In 1555, a new Mary Rose was built, of 500 tons. This ship had a career that if anything was longer and more action packed than that of King Henry's Mary Rose. She was in the Armada campaign, and there are detailed accounts of the actions she took part in.
The division of the Lord Admiral pursuing the Spaniards up Channel from Plymouth, 21st July 1588, off Derry Head, "his Lordship, in the Ark Raleigh, with the Bear and the Mary Rose in his company, somewhat in his stern, pursued the enemy all night within culverin shot". On Tuesday, 23rd July, "the Triumph, with 5 ships, viz- Merchant Royall, Centurion, Margaret and John, Mary Rose and Golden Hind, were so far to leeward and separated from our fleet, that the galleasses took courage and bare room with them and assaulted them sharply. But they were very well resisted by these ships for the space of an hour and a half".
Later, the Lord Admiral, "called unto certain of her Majesty's Ships, then near at hand, and charged them straitly to follow him and to set freshly on the Spaniards and to go within musket shot of the enemy before they should discharge one piece of ordnance." This was "very well performed by the Ark, the Elizabeth Jonas, the Galleon of Leicester, the Golden Lion, the Victory, the Mary Rose, the Dreadnought, the Swallow, for so they went in order into the fight which the Duke of Medina perceiving came out with 16 of his best galleons to impeach his Lordship, - at which assault, after a wonderful sharp conflict, the Spaniards were forced to give way and to flock together like sheep."
On the 25th July, "the fleets drawing to one another, there began some fight, but it continued not long, saving that the Nonpareil and the Mary Rose struck their topsails and lay awhile by the whole fleet of Spain very bravely - a very sharp fight for the time."
On the 26th July, "Sir John Hawkyns in the Victory, accompanied with Mr Edward Fenton in the Mary Rose, Sir George Beeston in the Dreadnought, Mr. Richard Hawkyns in the Swallow and the rest of the ships appointed to his squadron, bare with the mist of the Spanish Army, and there continued in hot assault all that forenoon - the fight continued hotly". After this, Mr Edward Fenton in the Mary Rose, and a galleon encountered each other, the one standing to the Eastward and the other to the Westward, so close as they could conveniently pass by another, wherein the Captain and Company did very well."
On 4th September, 1588, the Mary Rose is listed as being in the Downs, with a complement that has been reduced from 250 to 160 by death and sickness. In the same year, she is officially listed as: "No. 13 is the Mary Rose of 600 tons, 150 mariners, 24 gunners, 78 soldiers, total 250". She was surveyed in the same month, and appeared not to be in the best condition: "this ship at the instant is very leaky, which may not only proceed from the imperfection of her timbers, but much more of the decayed stem and stern post which appeareth to be a cause thereof, as well as the sea as otherwise; the remedy whereof cannot well be done but in a dry dock. Besides her mainmast is decayed, her boat and pinnace is to be repaired." In 1589 she was in dry dock at Deptford being rebuilt.
She took part in Sir John Hawkyn's voyage to the coast of Spain and the Azores in 1590, a journey which accomplished little.
In 1596 she was part of the fleet that assaulted and sacked Cadiz, strangely, she was commanded by another familiar name, Sir George Carew. She continued to take an active part in the war against Spain. The Mary Rose was Admiral Monson's flagship in 1609.
In 1602 she was listed as having a keel length of 85 ft, a beam of 33 ft and a depth in hold of 17 ft. Her figurehead was a Unicorn.
In 1613? she was bought to Chatham where her hull was filled and she was sunk to help support a wharf.
In 1623 a Mary Rose of 394 tons was constructed, she was a third or fourth rate. She was built at Deptford by Burrell, with a keel of 83ft, a beam of 27ft 6ins and a draught of 13ft. She was initially equipped with 26 guns. She took part in the unsuccessful expedition to Cadiz in 1625. This particular vessel seems to have accomplished little of note, finally being wrecked off Flanders in 1650.
In 1654, a ship called the Maidstone (re-named the Mary Rose after the Restoration in 1660) was built at Woodbridge. This was a ship of 566 tons with 40 guns, a keel length of 102 ft, a beam of 31 ft 8 ins and a 16 ft draught. In 1654, she was part of Blake's fleet sent to the Mediterranean to harass the French and the Algerine pirates. On April 26th, 1655, the fleet fought an action in the bay of Tunis, sinking nine pirate ships and destroying the forts meant to protect them. She also took part in several battles in the Second Dutch War.
On December 29th 1669, she was engaged in a single handed action against six Algerian men of war. Luckily, one of her shots struck the opposition Admiral's ship on the waterline, forcing her to draw off. The other ships also retreated, leaving the Mary Rose to fight another day with 11 men killed and another 17 wounded.
In 1689, the Mary Rose was classed as a fourth rate with 43 guns and 230 men. In 1691 she convoyed a fleet of store ships to the West Indies. She was stationed in the West Indies, and on July 12th of the same year was captured by the French, the captain being killed in the engagement. She was damaged in an action with the Diamond, being forced to flee to Martinique. In 1696, now a French ship of 50 guns, fought the Bonaventure, commanded by Captain Allin. Unfortunately, the Mary Rose proved as good a ship for the French as she had for the English, Captain Allin being killed and the Bonaventure forced to break off the engagement.
There is then a long gap in the use of the name Mary Rose in the Royal Navy, until a destroyer of that name was launched in 1915. She fought at Jutland and was sunk protecting the convoy she was escorting from the German cruisers, the Bremse and the Brummer in 1917. The last ship called the Mary Rose was another destroyer launched in 1943.
Sources:
- "The Four Mary Roses", Whitlock and Webb
- State Papers
- Navy Records Soc.
- Administration of the Royal Navy, Oppenheim
- Dictionary of National Biography
- The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea (Which misses out both the third and last ships of that name)
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