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Revealed: the man who may have sunk the Mary Rose

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Major Weatherly
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« on: February 04, 2011, 03:13:14 pm »


Revealed: the man who may have sunk the Mary Rose

Forensic scientist Richard Neave recreates head from skull found along with senior crewman's bosun's whistle



    * Maev Kennedy
    * The Guardian, Monday 23 March 2009
    * Article history

Mary Rose, Henry VIII's Ship Richard Willis's painting of Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose. Photograph: Getty Images

Eyes bleared from gunsmoke and salt spray, the face of the man who may have sunk the Mary Rose has been revealed, more than 400 years after he went to the bottom of the Solent in the wreck of Henry VIII's flagship.

The head has been modelled by the internationally renowned forensic artist Richard Neave from a skull recovered from the wreck. Only a handful of the more than 400 crew and soldiers survived when the ship sank so fast and so close to shore that helpless watchers on the cliffs heard the screams of the drowning men. For the first time, the face of one of the victims can be seen.
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Major Weatherly
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« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2011, 03:13:48 pm »

The remains of more than 170 individuals have been recovered, but few can be identified as specific members of the crew. This man was found with the emblem of his comparatively senior status, his bosun's call - a whistle - proving he was the man who may have been at least partly responsible for the disaster. The public will see him next month, in an exhibition at the Whitgift conference centre at Whitgift School in South Croydon, the first time objects from the wreck, normally stored at the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth, have been displayed.

For centuries historians have struggled to explain the loss of the Mary Rose in July 1545, in a battle with the French so close to land that Henry himself, on a tower at Southsea castle, saw the destruction of the ship named in honour of his favourite sister.

There are many theories about why the ship sank, but evidence from the wreck itself suggests the ship put about with its gunports open, was hit by a squall and swamped by a wave that poured in so fast the ship sank like a stone. Ensuring that the gunports were closed would have been the bosun's job. The Mary Rose settled deep into the silty bed of the Solent, which preserved thousands of artefacts in excellent condition.

The bosun's skull was typical of the preservation that made the contents of the wreck a window into everyday Tudor life: the historian David Starkey has called the Mary Rose "England's Pompeii". "Lovely clean skull," Neave agreed, "much better condition than most of the modern forensic specimens the police bring me. Lots of character, it was a pleasure to work on."
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« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2011, 03:14:22 pm »

Bone experts have analysed the skeleton and teeth, and concluded the bosun was in his late 30s or early 40s, had done hard manual labour earlier in life and then had an easier time, backing up the view that this was a sailor who rose through the ranks. The teeth revealed that he came from south-west England - unlike, historians have recently suggested, crew who may have been press-ganged prisoners of war or Mediterranean mercenaries.

Neave builds up the heads from his extensive database on the relationship between skull, muscles and features. Details of the bosun's skin, hair and eyes are conjecture, based on research on Tudor styles, and his outdoor life. His eyes were created by a specialist unit at Blackpool which makes prosthetic eyes for the NHS. "By his age the edge of the iris is less sharply defined, and the white more veined," Neave said, "and I think of him in the chaos of the gun deck in battle, scrubbing his eyes with his knuckles to try to clear his vision."

The hull of the Mary Rose was raised from the seabed live on television in 1982, watched by millions across the world, after months of work by volunteer divers, including Prince Charles. The timbers have been undergoing preservation work ever since at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, where a new heritage lottery-backed museum - scheduled to open in 2012 - is being created to unite ship and contents again.

The exhibition in Croydon will include longbows and swords, mail coats, gold and silver belonging to the officers, wool socks and evidence of everyday life on board, including cooking pots, combs and a manicure set.
Why did she sink?

• She was holed below the waterline by a French cannonball, with carpenters struggling down in the hold unable to stem the sea rushing in; the most recent explanation, based on accounts at the time, the weather, and the position of bodies in the wreck.

• The open gunports shipped water when the ship heeled in the wind, and it developed a fatal list.

• The crew, mainly Spanish mercenaries, didn't understand their orders; the admiral's reputed last words were 'knaves I cannot rule'.

• The ship was top-heavy due to rebuilds adding a deck, or was overladen with heavy guns and more than 400 crew and soldiers.

• This article was amended on Thursday 26 March 2009. An exhibition of artefacts from the ship Mary Rose will go on display on 7 April at the Whitgift conference centre at Whitgift School in South Croydon, not the Whitgift shopping centre. This has been corrected.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/23/mary-rose-ship
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Major Weatherly
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« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2011, 03:15:02 pm »



 The reconstructed face from the wreck
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