On the death of his father in 1509, Henry VIII ascended the throne of England to spend much of his long reign at war with the Scots to the north and the French and Spaniards on the European mainland.
Tudor England
As part of an island nation Henry realised the importance of keeping essential sea routes open. His hard won possessions in France needed supplied and access for merchants to continental ports was vital. He was also aware of the increasing naval power of James IV of Scotland who in 1511 had launched the Great Michael, a giant 1000-ton leviathan capable of carrying 27 guns and a crew of 300. It was unthinkable that the English king would allow the Scots to gain a military advantage.
He had inherited a small navy from his father but during the early years of his reign, he added a number of new vessels. Over the next four decades, he spent a vast fortune on his navy. He established royal dockyards along the river Thames at Woolwich and Deptford and on the south coast of England to build or refurbish his ever-growing fleet.
English Navy ships
Towards the end of Henry’s life his ‘Navy Royal’ as it was known then had grown to 58 vessels and included the Peter Pomegranate, the Less Bark, the Great Bark, the Falcon-in-the-Fetterlock and the Henry Grace a Dieu, the largest ship in his navy. His favourite was the Mary Rose, built at Portsmouth between 1509 and 1511.
Anthony Anthony was a clerk of the ordnance in Henry’s service and has left us with a unique record of the 16th century navy.
It tells us that after a refit, her increased tonnage (700 tons) allowed her to carry 91 guns, including 15 large bronze cannons, the rest were made up of carriage guns and smaller anti-personnel guns. In addition, there were a number of personal weapons for the crew: handguns, longbows and darts to be thrown from the fighting tops.
His ‘Roll’ shows the Mary Rose as having a crew of 200 sailors, 185 soldiers and 30 gunners.
However, on a summers day in 1545 as the ship prepared for battle the numbers had increased to between 600-700 as additional soldiers, archers and officer’s servants joined the ship.
Henry VIIIs flag ship the Henry Grace a Dieu was the venue for a final meeting with his senior captains and as the king issued his orders a lookout reported a number of sails on the horizon. The French were on their way.
On a day with little wind, the English, with less than 100 ships faced a vast French fleet of around 225 that had sailed from Le Havre under the command of Admiral d’Annebault.
On the ramparts of Southsea Castle to watch the impending conflict stood King Henry at the head of an army prepared to deal with any of the French that made it ashore.
With the English ‘row barges’ moving to take on the French galleys the Mary Rose tacked to take advantage of a light breeze. As the great ship passed in clear view of the king and his entourage it began to heel to port. Her Vice Admiral, Sir George Carew was said to have called out to another vessel as it passed close by: “I have the sort of knaves I cannot rule,” clearly blaming the crew for the ship’s predicament.
With the gunports open and the guns run out and ready for action water poured in and the great ship with Henry watching sank to the bottom of the Solent (channel between the Isle of Wight and the mainland).
Only a handful of the crew survived.
What happened to the Mary Rose? Read the rest of the story.
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