Experience the smell, sound, and newly created footage that simulates the diving experience during the biggest-ever maritime excavation and the raising of a Tudor warship.
This includes original footage of His Majesty King Charles III (formerly HRH Prince of Wales) diving with the team 40 years ago.
The immersive 4D salvage experience will open to public from Friday 31st March in time for the Easter holidays.
Documentary maker Ross Kemp is joining some of the original divers who helped raise the Mary Rose to present a ground-breaking new interactive experience Dive the Mary Rose 4D.
The immersive once in a lifetime adventure will help visitors re-live the untold story of the world’s most famous shipwreck from the finding, excavating, and raising 40 years ago.
Experience the smells, sounds and newly created footage to simulate the diving experience in never-before-used technology showcasing the world’s largest ever maritime excavation and raising.
All the narrators involved in the film, including Ross Kemp, have dived on the wreck site. Many of them, helped recover 19,000 unique Tudor artefacts to add to the already impressive collection housed at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Original archive footage includes His Majesty King Charles III (formerly HRH Prince of Wales), diving with the excavation team 40 years ago, before the Mary Rose was raised in a spectacular maritime salvage and recovery operation.
Laying undiscovered for hundreds of years, entombed within the seabed, the wreck was finally located by divers in 1971. It took over ten years of excavation, over 500 divers and some 28-thousand dives before the remains of the hull could be raised.
An estimated global TV audience of 60 million watched live in October 1982 as the remains of the ship made it to the surface after 437 years.
CEO of the Mary Rose Museum, Dominic Jones, said,
“Dive the Mary Rose 4D allows visitors to experience the final untold chapter of Henry VIII’s most loved warship from the finding, excavation, and its painstaking raising. This spectacular immersive adventure is another exciting addition for Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in time for the Easter school holidays. It also compliments the 1545 experience narrated by Dame Judi Dench, which allows visitors to see and feel for themselves what it was like to be on the ship as it sank on that fateful day all those years ago.”
Ross Kemp added,
“I was delighted to be able to dive on the wreck site of The Mary Rose as part of my upcoming documentary series for Sky HISTORY. But nothing could have prepared me for what it was like to be able to help unearth history at the same time. Being part of Dive the Mary Rose 4D has given me a whole new level of respect for what was an incredible feat from a team of over 500 divers, engineers, and maritime experts. What they achieved with the raising of the Mary Rose, was nothing short of remarkable.”
The experience uses Unreal Engine, a state-of-the-art technology used in computer gaming, to bring this key moment in history to more people. It is a breath of fresh air in the world of museums. The Mary Rose Trust partnered with Figment Productions, world leading experts in this field to produce the film.
Dive the Mary Rose 4D opens to the public from 10am on Friday 31st March 2023, to coincide with the start of the Easter school holidays.
It is expected to be a huge draw for families in helping all generations learn about one of the most important historical shipwrecks and collections of Tudor artefacts, shining a light on life 500 years ago.
