Full Description
Although the wreck of the Mary Rose was raised twenty years ago, the excavations of the ship and the conservation work have never been published in full. Now the Mary Rose Trust, with the Heritage Lottery Fund, is publishing the complete history of the project and its research up to the present day in five highly illustrated volumes, revealing a wealth of information on all aspects of the ship.Sealed by Time: The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose traces the history of the Mary Rose from great naval vessel to ruinous shipwreck to an outstanding museum display. The Mary Rose was an extraordinary ship. Built to a new design, she was one of the first great British warships. Her career spanned all but a few years of Henry VIII's reign and she had a place in most of his wars. Combining for the first time all that is known from contemporary documents and the archaeological evidence, Peter Marsden and a team of specialists give a fascinating overview of her history. They set out details of the circumstances of her building, participation in three wars with France, repairs and rebuilds, and finally the tragic sinking with massive loss of life in Portsmouth Harbour in 1545 as she prepared to encounter the French fleet. Also described are the place of the ship in naval and seafaring history, the novel aspects of her shape and construction, how she performed at sea, her structure, rigging and armoury. Bringing the story up-to-date, further chapters describe the epic project to excavate and salvage the ship. In 1982 the hull was raised from the seabed, an event watched by millions on television. Subsequently a museum able to display the massive structure was created. Beautifully illustrated with contemporary paintings and documents as well as photos of the excavations and some of the 26,000 objects recovered, Sealed by Time will be of great interest to historians, archaeologists, and the general reader.
