The year is 1545 and France has amassed a huge fleet bent on invasion along the southern coast of England. But this is the reign of King Henry VIII, stout of stature and spirit, who commands a powerful fleet which includes his beloved, formidably armed Mary Rose. The imminent Battle of the Solent, off the coast of Portsmouth, must keep the French at arm’s length.
Henry VIII won the battle but lost his ship. Today, the tale of how the Mary Rose sank in minutes, of the lives that were lost, and how, 437 years later, the ship was recovered from the Solent seabed, is revealed at an outstanding visitor attraction within Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Launched in 1511, the swelled from a troop
