The Discovery and Excavation of the Mary Rose - page 2 of 4
After the ship had been discovered the project never really looked back, gradually attracting more interest and finance and even a 40ft catamaran donated by John Barber as a diving vessel.
Excavation showed that the Mary Rose had embedded herself deeply in the soft upper sediments and was resting on the hard clay below. The ship lay on her starboard side at an angle of approximately 60 degrees and had acted as a silt trap for the Solent currents. The surviving portion of the ship had filled up rapidly, leaving the port side to be eroded by marine organisms and mechanical degradation. Sometime during the 17th and 18th centuries the entire site was covered with a layer of hard, grey, shelly clay, effectively sealing it form further erosion. The process is shown in the video below
Because of the way the ship sank nearly the whole starboard side of a Tudor warship was preserved. Added to this, between a half and one third of the decks remained, complete with cabins, companionways and ancillary structures. Along with the structure of the ship were thousands of the artefacts she had carried the day she sank, as well as the remains of around 200 members of her crew. To use a hackneyed expression, the wreck of the Mary Rose was a Tudor time capsule.
In 1979 The Mary Rose Trust was formed with HRH Prince Charles (shown diving on the ship) as it's president. Margaret Rule now became Archaeological Director, taking operational control of the underwater side of the project.
In March 1979 the salvage vessel Sleipner was moored on site. Sleipner had been used as one of the salvage vessels during the recovery of the Swedish warship, the Vasa, and was purchased for the Trust by Portsmouth City Council. This large vessel permitted a scaled-up diving programme, and allowed divers and finds staff to work in shifts.
The whole project had to be put on a professional footing, with full-time archaeologists, finds staff, administrators, conservators and fund raisers. The scale of the excavation increased dramatically, volunteer divers came from all over the world, ably marshalled by Margaret Rule and her team of archaeologists and diving supervisors.
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