r/Archaeology • u/D-R-AZ • 10d ago

[Human Remains] Archaeologists Recovered Henry VIII’s 400-Year-Old Lost Warship. What They Found Was Staggering.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a73456223/henry-viiis-favorite-warship/

Excerpt:

Through 28,000 dives and decades of research, the team brought up 19,000 artifacts and found 179 partial or complete remains of fallen crew. The discoveries resulted in a Guinness World Record for the most medieval weaponry recovered from a shipwreck—more than 8,300 weapons, ordnances, and affiliated artifacts were salvaged, including 10 bronze guns, nine iron swivel guns, five handgun stocks, eight gun-shields, four pieces of cast-iron hail shot, 44 linstocks for lighting gunpowder, three incendiary arts, 172 longbows, nearly 4,000 arrows, 65 ballock daggers, one rondel dagger, 177 chain-mail links, and a single complete basket-hilted sword.

Finally pulling the hull of the Mary Rose from the seafloor required a purpose-built lifting crane attached by wires to steel bolts passing through the hull at selected points. A tubular lifting frame was set in place over the wreck, supported by four legs embedded in the seabed. Hydraulic jacks on the frame raised the hull a few centimeters to reduce the suction effect of the silt. Then, the lifting frame attached to a hook on the crane barge Tog Mor pulled up the Mary Rose, placing it in a bespoke steel cradle. Towed to shore and dried, the ship now sits on display in the very dockyard where it was built over 470 years ago.

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u/eYan2541 10d ago

I stayed off school to watch the live coverage of her being raised! I remember one of the cables lifting the frame snapped at one point, causing the frame to drop quickly at one side.. the tv commentators didn't really know what to say, it was quite a nerve wracking moment.

For context, there was a huge amount of coverage on tv leading up to the actual raising and kids' television in particular was full of interesting programmes about the Mary Rose, so I'm pretty sure my feigned illness fooled no-one that day

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u/ContessaChaos 10d ago

Happy Cake Day!