Centuries After Henry VIII’s Warship Sank, Experts Unraveled The Startling Secrets Of Its Crew

For three decades, the Mary Rose was the jewel in the crown of the English navy, bringing war and chaos to Scotland, Brittany and France. But when enemy forces made their way across the channel, the warship was called upon to play its part in defending Henry’s kingdom. Sadly, it would not survive the battle.

In the waters off the Isle of Wight, the Mary Rose foundered and sank, along with most of its crew, who by some estimates could have numbered as many as 600 souls. And for centuries, it lay rotting at the bottom of the Solent, just a few miles from its home port. Then, in the 1980s the wreck was recovered, revealing a fascinating glimpse into the past.

Now, the Mary Rose sits in a museum, its ragged bones concealing a time capsule of Tudor life. And as tourists gaze on in wonder, experts continue to pick apart the artifacts found within the sunken wreck. What clues do they hold about the people who once sailed on this historic warship? And how many stories are there left to tell? 

Recently, researchers have uncovered some shocking revelations about the men who were lost 

when the Mary Rose sank off the Isle of Wight. And it’s not the first time that Henry VIII’s favorite warship has been the subject of some serious myth-busting. After all, many believe that the vessel foundered on its first voyage – but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

In reality, the Mary Rose sailed in the English navy for more than 30 years before meeting its fate in the Battle of the Solent in 1545. Before Henry VIII’s reign, his predecessors had been reliant on merchant vessels to form makeshift armadas in times of need. But with the maverick monarch’s rise to power, all that changed.

After his coronation in 1509 Henry VIII quickly established a naval force to aid him as he waged war on the fringes of his kingdom. And in 1510 he ordered the construction of two ships to join his growing fleet. Later that year, the Peter Pomegranate was launched from Portsmouth in southern England, followed by the Mary Rose in 1511.

As a custom-built warship, the Mary Rose was unusual for its time – the perfect symbol of Tudor might at sea. And unlike its sister ship, it was fully equipped with a sizable complement of large cannons. According to legend, Henry VIII played an active role in developing the design, which might explain his reported devotion to the vessel.

Indeed, several sources record that the Mary Rose was the Tudor monarch’s favorite ship of all. And it certainly did him proud. Just one year after its launch, the vessel sailed at the head of the English navy to Brittany, where it helped deal a devastating blow to French forces.

Later, in 1513 the Mary Rose helped the English to victory against the Scottish, shipping troops north to the Battle of Flodden. But over time, Henry’s appetite for war appeared to wane. As his kingdom inched towards peace with France, the monarch’s favorite vessel settled into semi-retirement. Then, in the mid-1530s tensions flared once more.

With a possible war in Europe back on the agenda, the Mary Rose was refurbished and prepared for battle. And although the expected conflict with France and Spain did not materialize, it wasn’t long until Henry found another use for his prized warship. In 1545 a fleet of French vessels set out to conquer England, and the king was forced to mount a naval defense.

As French troops landed on the Isle of Wight, Henry’s warships sailed out of nearby Portsmouth. And despite being vastly outnumbered, they managed to repel the invading forces. The victory, though, was not without its devastating losses. After firing a broadside on the advancing French vessels, the Mary Rose swung round to employ the weapons on its opposite flank. But something went wrong.

According to The Mary Rose Museum, there is just one witness account on record that tells of the fate of the Mary Rose. Apparently, the great warship listed as it turned, slowly keeling over on its side. Whatever the reason, the crew stood little chance as the vessel’s starboard side dipped beneath the waves.

Within minutes, the Mary Rose was consumed by water, sinking down to the bottom of the Solent and sending most of its hands to a watery grave. But although Henry VIII lost his favorite warship that day, victory was still within his grasp. After a long stand-off, the French Armada eventually retreated, putting an end to the attempted invasion.

Just 18 months after the Battle of the Solent, Henry VIII passed away at the age of 55. His beloved Mary Rose, then, had been with him throughout almost all of his reign. But the wreck would keep its secrets for long after the controversial monarch’s death. In fact, to this day, nobody is sure exactly why the vessel sank.

According to one explanation, the Mary Rose foundered due to the errors made by an inexperienced crew, with gun ports having been mistakenly left open. Others, though, have argued that a gust of wind struck the ship at the wrong moment, prompting it to capsize. Do either of these theories explain what happened? Or might the French Armada have succeeded in sinking the vessel, courtesy of a cannonball?

For hundreds of years, the truth about the sinking of the Mary Rose remained unknown. But when divers located the wreck in 1971 historians must have hoped that some of its mysteries would finally be solved. First, though, they would need to raise the Tudor vessel – no small challenge. 

After years of preparation, an operation to bring the Mary Rose to the surface began on October 11, 1982. As onlookers including Henry’s distant blood-relative Prince Charles watched, the 437-year-old wreck was slowly raised above the water. And though the process was plagued by problems and last-minutes hitches, the remains of the warship were eventually back on dry land.

Today, a dedicated museum houses the Mary Rose in Portsmouth, the same city where it was built hundreds of years ago. And ever since the 1980s experts have been hard at work unraveling the secrets of this historic wreck. Over time, a number of artifacts have been retrieved from the vessel – and they each have a fascinating tale to tell. 

As well as the sort of relics that you might expect, such as weapons and guns, researchers have also retrieved a number of personal items from the wreck. And together, they serve as a time capsule giving us a glimpse into Tudor times. But this isn’t the only way that experts have been learning more about the crew of the Mary Rose.

For years, everything from musical instruments to jewelry have hinted at the lives of those who went down with Henry VIII’s favorite ship. Recently, though, researchers have been using more complex techniques to reveal some surprising insights into these mariners’ stories. So who exactly were they – and how did they come to be aboard the Mary Rose?

Of course, you would be forgiven for thinking that the crew of this vessel would have hailed from Portsmouth, or somewhere nearby. After all, how diverse could Tudor England really have been? Well, a series of studies have revealed that men actually came from far and wide to join the crew of Henry VIII’s famous warship. 

Indeed, in March 2019 a team of researchers from Portsmouth and Cardiff universities announced the finds of their latest study. Using modern bone structure and DNA analysis techniques, they had analyzed the skeletons of ten individuals whose remains had been found on board the Mary Rose. And what they uncovered was fascinating. 

According to reports, four out of the ten skeletons appeared to belong to individuals born in southern Europe. And that’s not all. Apparently, a fifth skull found in the wreck also boasted an unexpected provenance. In fact, the team headed by Swansea University’s Dr. Nick Owen believes that these remains could have belonged to a man of North African descent.

“Having studied the skull of one of the men who went down with the Mary Rose, we have found the bone structure was consistent with someone who had North African features, and DNA evidence seems to back this up,” Dr. Owen told the BBC in 2019. “Today, with a much more mobile world population, it would have been harder to isolate, but in the 16th century it’s easier to pinpoint facial characteristics to a specific location.”

But did this long-dead mariner, dubbed Henry by the researchers, travel thousands of miles just to sail on the Mary Rose? Or did he relocate across continents earlier in life? Amazingly, the team were able to use a technique known as isotope analysis to find a decisive answer to this question.

By looking closely at the mariner’s skull, researchers were able to determine that he had actually been raised in southern England. Dr. Owen said, “By the time our adult teeth form, the chemical evidence of the food and water in our environment is locked in, and in Henry’s case it’s clear he grew up around Portsmouth, the Mary Rose’s home port.” 

Perhaps, then, England during the time of Henry VIII was more multicultural than we might have imagined? Dr. Owen continued, “I’m a scientist, not a historian, but it does question a lot of the assumptions we’ve previously made about how diverse the Tudor population was.” Interestingly, this study is not the only one to reveal surprising truths about the Mary Rose’s crew.

In May 2021 another study was published in Royal Society Open Science, a journal dedicated to academic research. Like the earlier researchers, this team had analyzed human remains found in the wreckage of the Mary Rose. This time, they focused on seven individuals as well as Henry, the mariner first identified back in 2019.

According to reports, previous research had already established the likely professions of these eight individuals. And although it is impossible to be sure, experts believe that they were, respectively, two archers; a cook; a gentleman; a steward; a young sailor; a handyman and an officer. But while it was their possessions that revealed these insights, a closer look at the remains disclosed even more.

Once again, researchers used radioactive isotope analysis to learn more about the crew members’ lives. According to the magazine New Scientist, the team, headed by Cardiff University’s Jessica Scorrer, analyzed a small sample of dental enamel from each of the individuals. And the results, it seems, supported the conclusions drawn by the earlier study.

Like Dr. Owen and his colleagues, the team found that several of those on board the Mary Rose when it sank were not native to England. This time, they discovered that three out of the eight individuals studied may well have hailed from somewhere further south – potentially the European coast. Alternatively, they may have originated in North Africa or Iberia.

So what of the other five? In the study, Scorrer and her colleagues support the claims that Henry was a man of North African origin – although likely raised in Britain. In addition, they also confirm that the four remaining skeletons also bore similar isotopes, suggesting that they too spent their childhoods in England.

It is Henry, though, who seems to have caused the most excitement. Speaking to New Scientist in May 2021, Scorrer said, “This is the first direct evidence of a black mariner in Henry VIII’s navy.” But although such a find is certainly unique, it was not entirely unexpected. In fact, records have long suggested that minorities did indeed work as mariners in Tudor England.

“There were extensive trade networks across Europe and much further afield at that time,” the University of Aberdeen’s Kate Britton told New Scientist. Might such a route have brought Henry from North Africa to England, where he was raised and eventually took a position on a departing ship? Or was there another reason for his presence on the Mary Rose?

Although these recent studies have shed some light on the crew of Henry VIII’s beloved ship, much of their stories remain untold. But as researchers continue to pick apart the bones of the wreck, more and more facts are likely to come to life. Meanwhile, the Mary Rose is far from the only historic vessel to find itself under scrutiny in modern times.

During the reign of Queen Victoria, for example, the clipper Cutty Sark was built, at the time one of the fastest ships in the world. Eventually, though, the rise of steam power rendered the vessel obsolete. Eventually, in the 1950s it was relocated to Greenwich in London, where it was placed on permanent display.

Today, the Cutty Sark is one of the most famous ships in the world, attracting some hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Despite enduring two devastating fires, the vessel remains a rare relic from the age of sail, one of the last of its kind found anywhere in the world. And by exploring its decks and cabins, tourists are afforded a glimpse into a way of life that has been lost. 

At the same time, back in Portsmouth, the HMS Victory also survives as a floating museum. Just as the Mary Rose sailed at the head of Henry VIII’s navy, this vast vessel served as the flagship for Admiral Nelson’s fleet. And 40 years after its launch in 1765 it played a key role in the Battle of Trafalgar, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

Today, though, the HMS Victory enjoys a somewhat quieter life, moored in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. There, visitors can climb aboard the 250-year-old ship, imagining what life would have been like for a mariner during the time of George III. Of course, the delicate wreck of the Mary Rose can never offer such an immersive experience. But as research continues, we are learning just as much about those who lived and died on board.