Mary Rose Museum
Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth
The Mary Rose was Henry VIII’s warship. And she sank in 1545 – nearly 500 years ago!
She was a successful warship for Henry VIII for 34 years of his reign.
She was recovered in 1982 and today can be seen in a state-of-the-art facility to preserve her.
A huge team of divers, archaeologists and scientists was involved in raising the Mary Rose; the project broke new ground in conservation and diving techniques.
She was featured in the Channel 4 documentary, Skeletons of the Mary Rose: The New Evidence.
And today, she’s located inside the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Not only that – you can take in the sight of the only Tudor ship on display in the world! You’ll do this from the 'Upper Deck Gallery'.
Watch the crew at work via the stunning projections and get a sense of what life was like for the men on board. The ship gives us an insight into life in Tudor times: the clothes people wore and an idea of how much food it took to run a ship like the Mary Rose, and how the men passed the time, relaxing with music, games and books.
The museum has an array of artefacts – including the delightful (!) feature of the tools the ship’s surgeon used to deal with ill or injured soldiers. Thank goodness we live in the 21st century!
In 1513, over 400 crew were listed and in times of war, this would have risen to 700 so the ship would have been really crowded. Amongst the crew was Hatch, the ship’s dog – his job was to catch rats. His skeleton was found when the ship was recovered and you can see it.
You can also use the interactive touch screens to delve into history and discover some historical facts!
You can become a member of the Mary Rose Museum for just £50 a year – you’ll get access to the museum and invitations to VIP talks and discounts!