Northumbrian Gunner: Portsmouth 2022

When Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509 he inherited a navy of six ships. He adopted an aggressive foreign policy wanting to challenge France and Spain. To protect newly developing trade routes and vital English Channel links, he began to build a fleet of ships.

Construction of Mary Rose began on 29 January 1510 in Portsmouth, being launched in July 1511. The ship was towed to London and fitted with rigging and decking, and supplied with armaments.

Mary Rose

The design featured a new innovation, gun ports This provided the capability of a multi-gun deck increasing firepower dramatically in comparison to other ships.

Onboard the Mary Rose gundeck

The Mary Rose first saw action on 10th August 1512 at the Battle of Mathieu when it engaged the French ship Grand Louise, shooting out her mainmasts. It was the first naval battle between ships with gun ports engaging each other at range with no attempt at boarding.

Battle of Mathieu 1512

In 1513, the Mary Rose conveyed troops to the north of England where they would disembark and engage the Scottish troops at the Battle of Flodden. War with France ended in 1514, however conflict broke out again from 1522 to 1526, though there was little naval action.

In 1534, Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Rome and established himself as the head of the Church of England. The Pope demanded that Catholic monarchs of France and Spain remove Henry from power.

Fearful of invasion, Henry mobilised his fleet. The Mary Rose underwent a refit with extra gun ports being added and the sides strengthen to accommodate the weight of the extra guns.

In 1543, Henry was once again at war with France. An expedition to France was in the main a failure, however Boulogne was captured in 1544. In retaliation, the French sought to capture Portsmouth.

In July 1545, 200 French ships set sail across the channel. They entered the Solent on 19th July 1545. Henry's navy engaged the French ships in the Battle of the Solent, the king watching the battle unfold from Southsea Castle.

Battle of Solent 1545
Southsea Castle

Battle of Solent 1545

The Mary Rose engaged the French ships firing her starboard guns, then turned to come around in order to fire her port guns. As the Mary Rose turned she listed over and sunk. Of her crew of 500, 35 men survived.