Radzi and the Mary Rose Blue Peter Bite

This is Blue Peter, but mini.

Expect epic adventures, bakes, makes, badges, pets,

presenters and your post.

We've only got five minutes, so get ready for your Blue Peter adventure.

So, Team Blue Peter have told me that today I'll be helping

unlock the mysteries of the deep blue sea.

That's because I'm in Portsmouth,

to see a ship that dates back to Henry VIII!

That's the 16th century!

So I have come prepared.

It's the wrong era!

I'm here to set eyes on what is simply one of the most

famous ships in history.

That ship behind me is the Mary Rose and it was King Henry VIII's

favourite warship.

It was launched in 1511

which, incredibly, makes it over 500 years old.

The Mary Rose is so famous because, 34 years after launching,

she sank in battle.

She then spent over 400 years at the bottom of the sea

before being rediscovered in the 1970s.

It took another 11 years for her to be lifted from the seabed

and that's where we came in.

Blue Peter covered the efforts to raise the wreck

from start to finish,

and we played a big part in getting her out of the water.

Since then, scientists have been restoring the Mary Rose

and it's been painstaking work.

The ship was sprayed with water,

then waxed before it was slowly dried.

Which means the wreck has never been seen in its entirety until now.

After 34 years of conservation, the ship has been fully revealed.

And just look at it!

And it's only here,

in this purpose-built museum in Portsmouth's historic dockyard,

that you can get an up-close-and-personal look at

this colossal piece of history.

I almost feel like I could step on board the ship.

Well, actually, I'm now going to take an even closer look.

I've been given exclusive access to get to see parts

of the restored ship most people won't.

And it's fascinating.

This is Dr Alex Hildred,

she was part of the original diving team that raised the wreck.

At one time, this was buried under the seabed.

How did the ambition even start to raise it out and to bring it here?

Well, once we exposed it

we realised the wealth of objects that were inside it.

19,000 objects that tell us about life in the 16th century.

We realised we had to preserve it for the nation

and the only way we could do that was to bring it ashore

and create a museum, which is exactly what we've done.

Is there anything I can see close up?

-Sure, I'll come and show you how we maintain objects.

-Fantastic.

The ship is restored

but many of the objects found on the Mary Rose aren't,

and it's in this room that the scientists are slowly working

to uncover what was found onboard.

Each one an incredible piece of history.

Whatever it is we see here, or that you find generally,

that could have been on the boat,

used by people who actually lived and worked on the ship?

Oh, absolutely, yeah. Touched by somebody 500 years ago now.

And even though these historical treasures are around 500 years old,

I'm being allowed to help out.

We're going to allow you to excavate it.

You've got one chance only, just don't mess it up!

Wow! Talk about pressure.

Uh, so this could be a new find.

It could be a Blue Peter exclusive, or it could be...

Well, let's find out.

If you knock somewhere around here

-you might be able to get this block off.

-OK.

I'm going to knock your block off!

Here comes the science bit. Concentrate.

I'm chipping away at a layer of calcium carbonate

that's built up, having been underwater for so long.

Look at that! Look at that.

I'm going to be honest, I've no idea what I'm looking at.

Now you've exposed enough for us to say that it's a cat hook,

so that and the bronze sheave that makes the other part of it

was used to help raise the anchor. It was found near an anchor

and it's the only one we've got, so you've not only discovered history,

but you've discovered one object

that we've never had before on the Mary Rose.

Incredible.

This hook would have been used to hold the Mary Rose's giant anchor.

And it's amazing to think it would have last seen the light of day

way back in the time of Henry VIII.

Well, that right there is a Blue Peter exclusive.

-Alex, thank you so much.

-You're welcome.

-David, thank you so much.

And if we were to do the entire concretion, how long would it take?

Probably looking about Christmas 2017 to finish.

Yeah, I'll just probably look around the... Just look at the...

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