The Mary Rose 500 appeal challenges 500 volunteers to raise £500 each to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the commissioning of Henry VIII’s flagship vessel. Part of an effort to raise £35 million to complete a new museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. John Hillman takes a look back at the story of a ship which, along with HMS Victory, remains one of the most famous warships in our seafaring nation’s long history.

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When King Henry took the throne, in 1509, England was languishing in the lower leagues of the great divisions of European power. Although it had once been a force to be reckoned with, by the time his father, Henry VII, passed away, England had lost much of its former glory

Nothing demonstrated this fact more succinctly than the feeble acquiescence that greeted the news, in 1492, that France had annexed the Duchy of Brittany, the great seat of English power on the European mainland. Of more concern to the English than their pride however, was the realisation that the entire English coast was now wide open to attack from their fearsome, powerful and hated enemy.

The commissioning of the Mary Rose, coming in the same year as the ascent to the throne of Henry VIII, symbolises the beginning of a new chapter in English history. A young ambitious King, determined to reassert English prestige, commissioned the Mary Rose, and her sister ship Peter Pomegranate, almost immediately. From this point on England’s fearsome reputation at sea would begin to develop.

In August 1512 the Mary Rose led an attack against the French Fleet, at Brest in Brittany, home to some of the world’s finest shipbuilders and of crucial strategic significance to the balance of power in the English Channel. It was the first in a long line of engagements between French and the English navies in which ships fired their canon through ports, it as a seminal step forward in naval warfare. The English returned to Portsmouth victorious.

The Mary Rose then took part in the war with Scotland that was to end with the death of the Scottish King at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Here it was used to transport troops to Newcastle.
During Henry’s second war with the French the Mary Rose continued to remain the Navy’s flagship vessel, and was still renowned for being able to out-sail all the other ships in the fleet.

The ship remained in the King’s service, thanks to numerous refits, until in 1545. At the height of yet another war against the Auld Alliance French ships sailed into the Solent to attack the English fleet and, during the ensuing battle, the Mary Rose, pride of the English Navy and symbol of England’s new found confidence under Henry VIII, keeled over amidst panic and confusion and went down with the loss of approximately 500 lives.

She remained a forgotten wreck for centuries until, in 1982, 437 years after she sank, a team of dedicated specialists finally managed to raise her and take her back to Portsmouth, where she remains, to this day, preserved for the all the nation.

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To find out more about the Mary Rose 500 appeal and how you can help visit their website and get involved

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