0:00:02 > 0:00:05On the 11th of October 1982,
0:00:05 > 0:00:07one of the most important shipwrecks ever found
0:00:07 > 0:00:09emerged from the sea's murky depths.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14A global audience of over 60 million people
0:00:14 > 0:00:18tuned in to see history being made.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20There is the wreck of the Mary Rose.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22What an amazing sight.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28For over 40 years, the Mary Rose has slowly yielded up its secrets
0:00:28 > 0:00:29as the ship and its contents
0:00:29 > 0:00:32have been carefully excavated and conserved.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38And the BBC has been there every step of the way,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40to document this incredible journey.
0:00:43 > 0:00:44The history series Timewatch
0:00:44 > 0:00:46played a key role in this reporting.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Over the last three decades, Timewatch helped chart
0:00:52 > 0:00:55the ever-changing story of Britain's greatest
0:00:55 > 0:00:57underwater archaeology project.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Over the years the Mary Rose has delivered countless unique
0:01:07 > 0:01:10discoveries, as well as a series of cutting-edge breakthroughs,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12which, taken together,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15have transformed not just our view of this iconic ship,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19but also the Tudor age in which she sailed.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21'Even four decades on,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25'the Mary Rose is still offering challenges and opportunities
0:01:25 > 0:01:27'to historians and archaeologists.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31'Each year, new information and insights continue to emerge.'
0:01:33 > 0:01:36But that's not all. Over the last 40 years, the Mary Rose project
0:01:36 > 0:01:39has itself made history.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41It's helped to turn underwater archaeology
0:01:41 > 0:01:44into a real, credible science.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48And along the way, its produced some groundbreaking scientific advances.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53I'll be using 40 years of remarkable BBC archive film
0:01:53 > 0:01:56to chart how this amazing underwater time capsule
0:01:56 > 0:01:59has captured the nation's imagination.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03But also, how this one wreck would redefine archaeology at sea.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15For centuries, shipwrecks have fascinated and intrigued us.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19But it's only in recent decades that archaeology has allowed
0:02:19 > 0:02:22historians to use wrecks to understand the past.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26The Mary Rose played a key role in this process.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28The team working on her would help
0:02:28 > 0:02:30forge the science of underwater archaeology
0:02:30 > 0:02:34but also bring back to life this flagship of King Henry VIII.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40In her day, the Mary Rose was a formidable ship.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Over 100 feet long,
0:02:42 > 0:02:44weighing some 700 tonnes
0:02:44 > 0:02:46and heavily armed with 91 guns.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52She was also one of the fastest ships in Henry's VIII's fleet
0:02:52 > 0:02:54and played a key part in his Navy.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59The mention of the Mary Rose might make you think back immediately to
0:02:59 > 0:03:03that magical day in 1982, when she rose out of the water,
0:03:03 > 0:03:04almost miraculously.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08But actually, that wasn't the start of the Mary Rose story.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09That was simply a milepost,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13and it followed years of hard work by archaeologists and divers.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19The tale of how the Mary Rose came to be saved
0:03:19 > 0:03:23really started some 20 years before that remarkable day in 1982.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29In fact, for nearly 500 years, Henry VIII's favourite warship
0:03:29 > 0:03:31had been all but forgotten,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34lying hidden somewhere off the south coast of England.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38But all that changed in the 1960s,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40when one man's personal crusade
0:03:40 > 0:03:45led him to the greatest discovery in British maritime history.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47His name was Alexander McKee,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51and the BBC caught up with him in the late 1970s.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54I took a dive when I was 38
0:03:54 > 0:03:56and I thought,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58"This place hasn't been explored before.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01"This is an opportunity that will come once,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03"to me only, to one generation only."
0:04:05 > 0:04:09"I'm not going to waste my time on just lobsters or
0:04:09 > 0:04:12"picking up copper and brass, and stuff like that.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16"The most important known wreck in northwest Europe is here.
0:04:16 > 0:04:17"Somewhere here.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21"And I will spend my time on that, and even if I fail,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23"I won't actually have wasted the time
0:04:23 > 0:04:26"because it was a well worthwhile objective."
0:04:26 > 0:04:29- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER:- McKee didn't just search the seabed at random.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32He is a historian and he conducted a very thorough
0:04:32 > 0:04:34programme of research into the wreck.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36This led him to a collection of watercolours
0:04:36 > 0:04:39made by the Dean brothers before 1840.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43The Dean brothers invented and patented helmet diving gear
0:04:43 > 0:04:45and used it for salvage.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48They stumbled on the position of the Mary Rose by accident
0:04:48 > 0:04:52and recovered cannons and other objects which were sold at auction.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54The approximate position of the map was marked
0:04:54 > 0:04:57on an Admiralty chart, which McKee found in 1966.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01This discovery was crucial.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04I knew by that time
0:05:04 > 0:05:07that even Dean had found virtually nothing of the Mary Rose
0:05:07 > 0:05:09showing above the seabed.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11He said there was nothing standing up high enough
0:05:11 > 0:05:13to which he could even attach a rope.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17So, we were looking for an invisible wreck, cos we were a 120 years later.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21At the time, many thought McKee and his team were mad,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23and that the Mary Rose would never be found.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27But McKee had a secret weapon up his sleeve.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30During the search, McKee collaborated with
0:05:30 > 0:05:32some pioneering American scientists
0:05:32 > 0:05:36who were using a new technology called sub-bottom profiling.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39This allowed the scientists to use sonar pings
0:05:39 > 0:05:42to see what lay hidden beneath the seabed.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45On a fateful day in 1967,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48the proverbial X appeared on the sonar map.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50McKee had his target.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53The Mary Rose was the first historic wreck in British waters
0:05:53 > 0:05:56to be found using this cutting-edge technology.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59And it paved the way for all sorts of other discoveries
0:05:59 > 0:06:01around the British coast.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Once McKee had located what he believed was
0:06:04 > 0:06:05the wreck of the Mary Rose,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07his small team of volunteer divers
0:06:07 > 0:06:10began to explore the site
0:06:10 > 0:06:13and find out exactly what was down there.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16The lead archaeologist on the project was Margaret Rule,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18who joined McKee in 1965
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and dedicated her life to understanding the Mary Rose.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26As a land archaeologist, she had to learn how to dive
0:06:26 > 0:06:28to see the wreck for herself.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31After sitting in the boat with the team of divers
0:06:31 > 0:06:35for some five years, taking notes of what THEY could see on the bottom,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38I finally decided I just had to get under and see for myself.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41It was just too frustrating for words, to sit there hearing
0:06:41 > 0:06:46about mounds and depressions and all this sort of thing, which might mean
0:06:46 > 0:06:50a ship buried there in the mud, and never be able to see it for myself.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53It was a chance not to be missed.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER:- At that time they were still investigating
0:06:56 > 0:06:58a mass of wreckage, rather than something
0:06:58 > 0:07:00they could recognise as a ship.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03By courtesy of Portsmouth Fire Brigade,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06they were using water hoses underwater
0:07:06 > 0:07:10to blast away the overburden and anchorage wreckage.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12But the sea had helped them.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15During the winter, a scouring on the bottom had exposed
0:07:15 > 0:07:18some of the frames of the ship's timbers.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Margaret Rule had learnt to dive in time to share the excitement.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Well, the very first time we saw the ship,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26we saw eight or nine timbers,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29rectangular timbers, just protruding from the seabed,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31three or four inches.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Their upper surface was very worn and eroded by gribble,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36and by teredo, the shipworm.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39But as we cleared away the mud with our hands,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43the timbers were sharp and clear, as good as the day the ship sank.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50- DAN SNOW:- It was soon clear this was a hugely important site.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Those involved were determined to try and excavate
0:07:52 > 0:07:55and, eventually, recover this iconic warship.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00And so, in 1979 an official body,
0:08:00 > 0:08:01The Mary Rose Trust,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03was created to oversee this epic undertaking.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09The once-amateur operation was soon transformed into a huge
0:08:09 > 0:08:12professionally led dig, the like of which had never been
0:08:12 > 0:08:14seen before or since.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16The scale was truly staggering.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Over four years, they made 28,000 dives.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Breakthrough followed breakthrough
0:08:22 > 0:08:24and soon they were able to put together
0:08:24 > 0:08:27a comprehensive picture of this ship
0:08:27 > 0:08:28and the men who sailed on her.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Not only that, but The Mary Rose Project
0:08:31 > 0:08:33pushed the boundaries of what was possible
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and ushered in a whole new era of underwater archaeology.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38As the project expanded,
0:08:38 > 0:08:40new people joined the team,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44including many professional archaeologists and scientists.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48Amongst them would be Christopher Dobbs, who joined in July 1979,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and Alex Hildred, who joined later that year.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Everybody's very cheerful.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Both Alex and Christopher have spent much of their working lives
0:08:57 > 0:08:59with the Mary Rose.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02It was fantastic to get involved with the Mary Rose.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05I'd just come out of university, I'd just studied archaeology.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08But, luckily, I was one of the very few archaeologists who could dive.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11And so, it meant that I could go straight into
0:09:11 > 0:09:13the most important project in the world.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15It was exciting, the anticipation every day
0:09:15 > 0:09:16of what you were going to find.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18It was challenging - getting up at, you know,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21sometimes four in the morning, to get the right tides and things.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24And this was all done without computers, you know.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27The organisation was unbelievable. It was really big.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30Before the Mary Rose,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34underwater archaeology was a haphazard affair.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37But now, for the first time, detailed work was carried out
0:09:37 > 0:09:41on the seabed itself, under the watchful eyes of archaeologists.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44It required a whole new way of working,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48bringing major logistical headaches for the team.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Whereas on a landsite, you brief a volunteer continuously
0:09:52 > 0:09:56throughout the day, and you can stand over his shoulder and tell him
0:09:56 > 0:10:00what mistakes he's making and where he should be excavating,
0:10:00 > 0:10:01on an underwater site,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04you have to brief him before he goes into the water
0:10:04 > 0:10:08and then rely on him remembering that brief while he's on the seabed
0:10:08 > 0:10:12and working completely alone
0:10:12 > 0:10:14for the vast majority of his time in the water.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18And then, when he comes up, he has to be able to tell you exactly
0:10:18 > 0:10:22where he's worked and what he's done, so that you can brief the next diver.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26You had a really good training session because we were diving alone,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29so you had to be taught how to dive alone.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32You had to be taught the layout of the site. So, we were given
0:10:32 > 0:10:35a board that you took underwater which had a sketch plan of the site.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37You got taught how to use an airlift.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40You got a first tour of the site, which, inevitably, was by feel
0:10:40 > 0:10:41because the visibility was so bad.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45On the seabed, the archaeologists carefully removed
0:10:45 > 0:10:49the sediments to expose each new find using airlifts
0:10:49 > 0:10:51and improvised tools, like paint brushes.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Once each new object had been revealed,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58it was carefully recorded and sketched,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00before being brought to the surface.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05The common misconceptions are that a wreck is either
0:11:05 > 0:11:08virtually complete, with sails furled on the bottom,
0:11:08 > 0:11:10waiting for the intrepid diver to go down
0:11:10 > 0:11:12and arrest the gold coins from its hull,
0:11:12 > 0:11:14or that it's a pile of matchwood and mud,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16with no relationship,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18nothing meaningful in it at all.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21And of course, that's a long way from the truth, really.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Most of the processes and principals involved in land archaeology
0:11:24 > 0:11:26can be used underwater.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28It may take a little longer, in certain circumstances,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31but there's no excuse not to try and achieve the same sort of
0:11:31 > 0:11:33measure of accuracy.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37There seems to be a lot of land archaeologists who feel
0:11:37 > 0:11:39that it's not possible underwater.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Erm, but hopefully, the Mary Rose will do something to
0:11:43 > 0:11:46improve its standing in the academic field.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49I think many people think the challenges of working underwater
0:11:49 > 0:11:53must be because it's cold and dark and you're diving deep down,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56and so on. But I think the challenges were
0:11:56 > 0:11:57more a matter of time.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00You could only spend 58 or 72 minutes,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03or occasionally 96 minutes, underwater.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06The difficulty was...that there is...there was no guidebook.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08We were breaking new grounds the whole time.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11We were trying to work as well underwater as we were on land,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13with no rules to go by.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16The vast majority of the hundreds of volunteer divers
0:12:16 > 0:12:19had no formal archaeological training.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Each had to be carefully briefed about how and where
0:12:22 > 0:12:24to excavate before being allowed on site.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Back on deck, the professionals were waiting to assess their finds.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Yes, when I uncovered, I thought it might be the lid of something,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35cos it was upside down.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38- I realised...- Yeah, it was that way up?- It was that way up,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40that's right, with all the concretion on the outside.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Well, it's rather nice, cos we had another one a meter east of this,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45which had a couple of marks on it.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47Yes, well, we found one initial here.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49It said something like "GC" on the side there.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52But that's the only thing we found so far.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56- And it was that way up?- It was lying that way up, that's right.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58And you measured it...you measured it to the centre?
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Measured it from the central point, yes.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03The initial on that side might show up...
0:13:03 > 0:13:05When we've cleaned it up a bit.
0:13:07 > 0:13:08It's a pity about that crack.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Yes. Apart from that, it seems to be fairly intact.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13A bit warped to eat dinner off, though.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15It's nice, that.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17Maybe we'll get the rest of the set.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19So many finds on the Mary Rose
0:13:19 > 0:13:22were unique or absolutely stunning,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24that I don't think we had a process
0:13:24 > 0:13:26for any individual great find.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28They had to be treated the same way.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31We needed to record where they came from,
0:13:31 > 0:13:33we needed to prepare them for raising and then lift them.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36The number of finds that came up from the Mary Rose was astonishing.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38On some days, I mean, it was never really,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42unless we were weathered off, less than about 50 or so finds,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44and sometimes up to a 100. And if we were lifting bricks,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47there would be hundreds of objects coming up at once.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49And every dive, there was a potential
0:13:49 > 0:13:51to find something which was completely,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54either unrecognisable or a real shock to you,
0:13:54 > 0:13:55you just don't expect it.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57But you have to remember that
0:13:57 > 0:14:00a shipwreck is a really unique form of archaeological site.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03It is a home, it is a community,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06it is a workplace and it's a fighting machine.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08So, there are all that gambit of objects
0:14:08 > 0:14:10that come with each one of those.
0:14:13 > 0:14:14Even seemingly mundane objects,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16like parts of the ship's rigging,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19caused immense excitement at the time, as they were
0:14:19 > 0:14:22so well preserved by the oxygen-free mud of the seabed.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27As well as finds that could answer questions about how the ship
0:14:27 > 0:14:30was sailed, there was one set of finds that would
0:14:30 > 0:14:32transform our understanding of naval warfare.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37They were the ship's cannon.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39And it was these guns that had made the Mary Rose
0:14:39 > 0:14:41such a formidable warship.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46But lifting them ready for study was a mammoth task.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Some weighed over 2½ tonnes.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55At the time, this was an immense technical challenge,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57and the team had to feel their way,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59lifting each methodically,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01often inch by inch.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Stop.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10RADIO COMMUNICATION: 'Swing the jib west.'
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Jib west. Roger. Standby.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14- Jib west?- Yeah.
0:15:16 > 0:15:17That's that way.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Some of the guns had even become fused with the wooden hull,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28as the saltwater had dissolved their iron,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31forming solid masses called concretions.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36Therefore, pneumatic drills, and even explosives, were carefully
0:15:36 > 0:15:38used to detach them before they could be lifted.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45In total, 23 almost-complete guns were raised from the wreck,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47from ship-battering cannon,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49to small anti-personnel devices.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51The sheer variety was a revelation
0:15:51 > 0:15:54and of those recovered, some were made of bronze,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56others of cast or wrought iron.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Before the Mary Rose cannon emerged in the early 1980s,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08little was known about the types, sizes
0:16:08 > 0:16:10and capabilities of Tudor guns.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Anything that could be learned would radically change
0:16:13 > 0:16:15our understanding of war at sea.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20What's so exciting is that even after more than 30 years,
0:16:20 > 0:16:21new discoveries are being made.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24A couple of years ago, some of the team noticed that
0:16:24 > 0:16:26the lead cannonballs appeared to be rusting,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29which is a bit odd, given that lead doesn't rust.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32After imaging the cannonballs using powerful neutron X-rays,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36it was found some had square iron cores.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40It's possible this innovation was made to reduce the weight
0:16:40 > 0:16:43and the cost, but it's also possible that it was designed to
0:16:43 > 0:16:48increase range and accuracy, and maybe even to be a primitive
0:16:48 > 0:16:51form of armour-piercing round. And that's pretty impressive, given
0:16:51 > 0:16:55that technology wasn't thought to have existed for another 200 years.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01The recovery of the Mary Rose's guns opened up whole new fields
0:17:01 > 0:17:03of research for naval historians.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06But it was the discovery of another type of Tudor weapon
0:17:06 > 0:17:08that would make history.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12It was a weapon of which no other examples had ever been found,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16and which would give new insights into medieval warfare.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18It was the English longbow.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER:- This chest was one of the most important
0:17:23 > 0:17:25discoveries of the 1981 season.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31The object protruding from the silt in the centre of the picture
0:17:31 > 0:17:32is the tip of a Tudor longbow.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36The longbow was the classic weapon of the medieval period.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40But almost nothing is known of how longbows of that period
0:17:40 > 0:17:42were made, how effective they were,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44what range they had,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47and still less about how they were used on Tudor ships.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55It's fairly surprising that around 200 years after gunpowder
0:17:55 > 0:17:57first appeared in Western Europe,
0:17:57 > 0:17:58the crew of the Mary Rose
0:17:58 > 0:18:01were still using the humble bow and arrow.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Soon after their discovery, it was decided that
0:18:06 > 0:18:08so many longbows had been found
0:18:08 > 0:18:11that a unique opportunity had presented itself
0:18:11 > 0:18:13and new information could be learned.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Experimental archaeology would be used to test the Tudor bows,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23and, controversially, they'd be pushed to their limits.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Advisors were brought in from a variety of fields,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28including Robert Hardy, the famous actor,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31who just happened to be an expert in the longbow.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35To test the strength needed to draw the bows,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38several were rigged up to a machine that would record
0:18:38 > 0:18:40how much draw-weight each could cope with.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45I'm going to 26.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47- When everybody's ready.- Yeah.
0:18:47 > 0:18:4826.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50One, two,
0:18:50 > 0:18:52three.
0:18:53 > 0:18:5420.8.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER:- The arrows found on the Mary Rose
0:18:58 > 0:18:59were more than 30 inches long.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01I'm going to 28.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02Right.
0:19:07 > 0:19:0923.9.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12..Kilograms, the draw weight of the bow.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15- Well, now, this is, I mean, it felt...- Yeah, this is discussion.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18- How did it look? Go on. - It felt good to me. John?
0:19:18 > 0:19:20- It looked good to me. - It looked good to me.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22Do you have any funnies in the ear?
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Not at all.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Going to 30 inches, when everyone's ready.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29And...
0:19:29 > 0:19:32One, two, three.
0:19:32 > 0:19:3330.
0:19:33 > 0:19:34- 24.8.- Beautiful.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38- DAN SNOW:- One of the bows would be tested to destruction,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40because the team didn't know it had been weakened
0:19:40 > 0:19:43by exposure to the elements underwater.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Right.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49- Going to eight a couple of times. - Check.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Cartage. Scotch tape. That's OK.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01These are the ones we excavated underwater
0:20:01 > 0:20:03and this was the broken end of a box,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05- so there was biological degradation...- Yes.
0:20:05 > 0:20:06..within the box at this end.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09So, it's not surprising, but it looked so good, didn't it?
0:20:09 > 0:20:11- Looked so good.- Externally.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14And, do you know, frankly, there was no alternative.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16There was no alternative. How do you learn?
0:20:16 > 0:20:18I'm all for experimental archaeology.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20When one has the materials,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23that work is valid. And I think it's only valid
0:20:23 > 0:20:27because we have such a large number, because we can say how representative
0:20:27 > 0:20:30these samples are. And the bow which has worked today,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33which is a real joy - the first Tudor longbow, I think,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36to be drawn for 450 years -
0:20:36 > 0:20:39we learnt from that how that moves.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Now we can go back to the mass of the material and see what that means,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45what does that represent? Was that standard issue longbow?
0:20:45 > 0:20:49The experiments provided some interesting results.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Later, computer models suggested that some of the largest bows
0:20:52 > 0:20:55had draw-weights of up to 185 pounds.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59That's the equivalent of lifting a fully grown man with one arm.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But archaeology is an ever-shifting discipline.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07And so, in 2003, the discovery of
0:21:07 > 0:21:09what was thought to be a bowstring
0:21:09 > 0:21:12seemed to show that the string itself wouldn't be strong enough
0:21:12 > 0:21:14to cope with 185 pounds of weight.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20So, an alternate theory has been put forward, that in fact many of the
0:21:20 > 0:21:23bows on board were actually designed to be LESS powerful,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26so in the heat of battle, any member of the crew
0:21:26 > 0:21:28could pick one up and shoot it.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37In 2004, Timewatch returned to the story of the bows,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39and Alex Hildred explained that new information had
0:21:39 > 0:21:42emerged about the arrows used on the Mary Rose.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47We've got about 2,300 complete arrows.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50At the very end of all of the arrows, there is some
0:21:50 > 0:21:53evidence for the binding. And here you can see the green,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56which is actually the glue, that's the remnants of the glue.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00Now, interestingly, that green colour, we've had the arrows tested,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03and the green colour is actually very, very high in copper.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08And when the arrow was tested both from the tip to the very...
0:22:08 > 0:22:11from the flight, we also picked up, although you can't see it because of
0:22:11 > 0:22:14the black staining of the iron, quite a high percentage of copper here.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17So, it means copper glue was used for the iron head
0:22:17 > 0:22:20as well as for the erm...the flights.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23And that is interesting because the French were accusing the English
0:22:23 > 0:22:26of poisoning the tips of their arrows and, in fact, copper,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29if it goes into a wound, will actually cause huge infection,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31and so that might be the reason why.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Whether it was deliberate or whether that's just the glue that was used
0:22:34 > 0:22:36is still an unknown.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42The bows and arrows of the Mary Rose provided a unique opportunity.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46The huge numbers of these rare items meant that some could be tested
0:22:46 > 0:22:49without fear of destroying valuable artefacts.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53And so, they provided unrivalled information about Tudor warfare.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58'Today, the work to preserve and understand them is still ongoing
0:22:58 > 0:23:01'and new insights will undoubtedly emerge.'
0:23:07 > 0:23:10As the archaeologists worked down through the layers of the ship,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13they didn't just find weapons and artefacts.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18They were also faced by the bodies of the Mary Rose's crew.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22It was one of the most sensitive issues of the entire project.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27The archaeologists recovered the remains of 179
0:23:27 > 0:23:30of the perhaps 500 men lost that day.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33The issue of the bones was a delicate one.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36At the time, some argued that this was a war grave.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42At the beginning, there was quite a lot of pressure to rebury them,
0:23:42 > 0:23:44but where would you rebury them?
0:23:44 > 0:23:47How could you mimic those conditions that kept them so well?
0:23:47 > 0:23:51So, whilst there were ideas to rebury all of them underground,
0:23:51 > 0:23:53or there was some weird ones to put them in between the walls
0:23:53 > 0:23:57of Southsea Castle, into sort of certain crypts, those aren't
0:23:57 > 0:23:59environmentally monitored. They're not under our care.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01You can't keep control of the conditions.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05What's more, to remove them from their burial environment
0:24:05 > 0:24:09within the ship and to not keep them associated with the clothing perhaps
0:24:09 > 0:24:12that was found with them, we think is wrong.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16We've dedicated our entire new museum to the men who died.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19And to actually separate them and not keep them together, I think,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21is morally wrong.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23The human remains of the Mary Rose would provide
0:24:23 > 0:24:28an extraordinarily rich source of information about Tudor life.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Much of this would be revealed through the infant
0:24:31 > 0:24:33science of osteoarchaeology -
0:24:33 > 0:24:35the study of human bones.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41The first assessment was undertaken by Ann Stirland in the early 1980s,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45and some of her initial work focused on determining the age of the crew.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51If we take these two long bones,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53which are femora,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55we can see that they look different.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58And they look different because
0:24:58 > 0:25:01the articular ends on this bone
0:25:01 > 0:25:02are present,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05but they're absent on this bone.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08This is because in young people
0:25:08 > 0:25:10and adolescents, children,
0:25:10 > 0:25:14these ends are only fixed, if you like, by cartilage.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18And this allows the shaft of the long bone to grow,
0:25:18 > 0:25:20which is how we grow taller.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23These ends fuse on to the bone
0:25:23 > 0:25:25and they do so at certain ages,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28which are different for boys and girls,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31which is why men are generally taller than women.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34And according to the condition of the bones,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38whether these are joined and present or absent
0:25:38 > 0:25:41or JUST joined, as in this case,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43so we can give an age range.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46The youngest that I've encountered so far
0:25:46 > 0:25:50is an individual aged between 12 and 15 years.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52And the oldest is somebody,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54at a rough estimate, in their 40s.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Ann Stirland's work also shed light on the injuries
0:25:57 > 0:26:01sustained by the crew, perhaps whilst on duty.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06So far, we have three fractured legs and three fractured ribs.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10We have some very interesting spines.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13If we look at these spines here,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16we have, if we look at the back of them,
0:26:16 > 0:26:21a difference in the shape of the vertebral bodies,
0:26:21 > 0:26:26where we have compression in the mid spine,
0:26:26 > 0:26:30As we can see, these are nothing like as deep as these.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35And if we look on the bodies themselves, we have these
0:26:35 > 0:26:39impressions which are called Schmorl's nodes.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44It can only happen when a person is very young
0:26:44 > 0:26:47and the intervertebral disc ruptures.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50And because it can't spread out from between the bones,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53it leaves an impression on the body
0:26:53 > 0:26:57of the vertebra when it's still in this very young and forming state.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02The Americans, interestingly enough, call this "snowmobiler's back"
0:27:02 > 0:27:06and I think that probably bobsleigh teams and tobogganers
0:27:06 > 0:27:10have the same sort of anomalies these days.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER: - Spinal injuries like that
0:27:12 > 0:27:14could have resulted from a fall
0:27:14 > 0:27:17from the rigging or from a rash jump over the side of the ship
0:27:17 > 0:27:20into a longboat. It's impossible to be sure.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26- DAN SNOW:- In 2004, when Timewatch revisited Ann's research,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29further study of the spinal injuries suggested some might have
0:27:29 > 0:27:32been caused by a very different activity.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36The back of his spine has got these enormous curved...
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Sticky-out bits, I think...
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Yes, articulations, which are growths. They're much,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44much bigger than you normally see them.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47But, better still, further up...
0:27:48 > 0:27:50..up here, in the spine,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54they get even more extreme, these articulations,
0:27:54 > 0:27:55even more curved.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58And here, this one,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01in life, that will have been fused.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04He would not have been able to move that back one very much.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07And I wonder if he was one of the men
0:28:07 > 0:28:09who was involved with the breech loader.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13You know, lifting that breech block up and down all the time.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17Years of research time also allowed Ann Stirland to compare
0:28:17 > 0:28:21the Mary Rose bones with other archaeological finds on dry land.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER:- In order to investigate the health of the crew,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30the bones were compared with a group of young men
0:28:30 > 0:28:33buried in a medieval cemetery in Norwich.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38The men from Norwich had far more pathological changes
0:28:38 > 0:28:40of a fairly dramatic nature.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42There was leprosy in the group.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45There was six cases of venereal syphilis in the group.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47There was tuberculosis in the group.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50There was evidence of dietary deficiency etc.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55On the other hand, the Mary Rose men were fit
0:28:55 > 0:28:58and strong and healthy. The bones are extremely robust.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01- DAN SNOW:- Spending over 30 years working with the bones
0:29:01 > 0:29:04led Ann Stirland to build up a relationship with these men who had
0:29:04 > 0:29:06lost their lives 500 years before.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11'Whenever one works on a group of skeletons
0:29:11 > 0:29:13'from an archaeological site,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16'the most thrilling thing about it is that you're actually
0:29:16 > 0:29:17'touching the people.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19'You're not looking at bits of pot.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21'You're actually looking
0:29:21 > 0:29:25'and touching the people, and that's what engages me.'
0:29:25 > 0:29:27The bones of the crew have helped us build a fuller
0:29:27 > 0:29:30picture of the hard lives the ordinary sailors must have faced.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35But there were other bones found in the excavations
0:29:35 > 0:29:38that would play a crucial role in the development of
0:29:38 > 0:29:40a new archaeological science -
0:29:40 > 0:29:41ancient DNA.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45In the 1980s, DNA sampling was in its infancy,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48and there was a concern that you wouldn't be able to get
0:29:48 > 0:29:51usable DNA off ancient skeletons like this,
0:29:51 > 0:29:54because they'd been handled by archaeologists and contaminated.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57But then, tests were done on pig bones that were
0:29:57 > 0:29:59found on the Mary Rose,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02and it was discovered that you could get DNA,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05even if they had been contaminated by archaeologists.
0:30:05 > 0:30:06It was a breakthrough moment.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09It was the first time this procedure had been used successfully.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11It paved the way for DNA to be used
0:30:11 > 0:30:13in all future archaeological excavations.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18The work on the Mary Rose bones is ongoing.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21And recently, isotope analysis of tooth enamel,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24which shows where someone lived as a child,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26has revealed some intriguing information
0:30:26 > 0:30:28about where these men might have come from.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33Many of the crew appear to have been Englishmen from the West Country.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37But some were born as far away as southern Europe, perhaps even Spain,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40and that's led some historians to speculate that one of the reasons
0:30:40 > 0:30:43for the loss of the Mary Rose could have been
0:30:43 > 0:30:45a miscommunication between the captain
0:30:45 > 0:30:47and foreign-speaking members of his crew.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52Every aspect of the Mary Rose Project
0:30:52 > 0:30:55had its own dedicated specialists.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57From the divers and archaeologists at sea,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01to pathologists, historians and the scientists tasked with
0:31:01 > 0:31:03conserving the countless delicate objects.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09In fact, before the dives even began, a lab had been created
0:31:09 > 0:31:13back on shore to help process each individual find.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16And soon, thousands were flooding into the stores.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21The scientists were breaking new ground all the time.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER:- Wooden objects that are in water for a long time
0:31:26 > 0:31:29absorb moisture in varying degrees.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31It depends on the type of wood.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34The water becomes crucial to their structural strength.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38And to conserve them, it must be removed in a controlled way
0:31:38 > 0:31:40and replaced with an inert substance.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44The usual approach is to submerge fragments of wood
0:31:44 > 0:31:47or leather in an oily chemical called polyethylene glycol,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49as preparation for freeze-drying.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51This was a powder scoop.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53The copper blade was found with it.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56Different types and weights of wood
0:31:56 > 0:31:59require different periods in a PEG solution.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05This carved panel was very worm-eaten, as well as waterlogged.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08The chemical displaces most of the water in the molecular
0:32:08 > 0:32:09structure of the objects
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and then they can be frozen, which stabilises them completely.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17On one particular day, the Mary Rose deep-freeze contained
0:32:17 > 0:32:19a leather bucket...
0:32:22 > 0:32:24..a tray of leather fragments...
0:32:27 > 0:32:29..a wooden bowl...
0:32:33 > 0:32:36..and one of a pair of leather thigh boots,
0:32:36 > 0:32:38all awaiting the final stages of conservation,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41when they will be placed in the freeze-drying unit.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Under a vacuum, in a very low temperature,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47all the residual moisture can then be vaporised
0:32:47 > 0:32:51and removed from within the structure of the materials.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55This minute sundial,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57the Tudor equivalent of a wrist watch,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00shows how successful the treatment can be.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02When the Mary Rose Trust was set up in 1979,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05it was really done extremely well,
0:33:05 > 0:33:07because what they started to do first
0:33:07 > 0:33:09was to set up the conservation labs.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12There was no point in us going out diving and raising lots of objects
0:33:12 > 0:33:14until the labs were ready.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18So, these were built first and then when the dive season started,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21it meant there were laboratories for the first aid for the finds,
0:33:21 > 0:33:25and then the eventual treatment were all ready and waiting.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28There was even a team of specialist draughtsmen
0:33:28 > 0:33:31brought into record the finds in meticulous detail,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34as the eye could capture things no camera could.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Especially on the Mary Rose, you never know what you're going to find,
0:33:38 > 0:33:41you get such a variety of work.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44It's nice to get such decorated objects here as you do get.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48And things that people have never seen before.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50I'm very interested by all the different shoes,
0:33:50 > 0:33:54because not very much is known about Tudor shoes.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57There's never been such a wide selection of them around before.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Shoe specialists like to see the different parts that make up
0:34:00 > 0:34:03the shoe, so they know exactly how they were made.
0:34:03 > 0:34:04These are three different rulers
0:34:04 > 0:34:06that have recently been found on the Mary Rose.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09And, again, the markings and the numbers
0:34:09 > 0:34:12on the ruler show up better in the drawing.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Those are quite interesting numbers.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17The ten's back to front and there's a line through the nought.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20The seven's on its side.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23And the six is rather strange.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26It's quite interesting to emphasise these kind of details.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29Some of the most delicate and surprising objects found
0:34:29 > 0:34:33in the sediments were pieces of clothing.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35The work to conserve and understand these fabrics
0:34:35 > 0:34:38wasn't just done by professional archaeologists,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42but by volunteers with years of practical experience.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47It's the silk that really has amazed me.
0:34:47 > 0:34:48It's so fine.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52And this particular piece is finer than the rest of it.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55It's almost like a silk tissue.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58I'm hoping that this will really make a good hat.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02This is very similar to the one that would have been worn by Henry VIII.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04This is a beautiful velour.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06It's...as you can see, this particular piece here,
0:35:06 > 0:35:10I just cleaned it slightly to see what it was like.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13This jerkin, again... Now, this is the only thing
0:35:13 > 0:35:16so far that has got a definite colour in it.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19It's been identified as madder dye.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23A lot of this is the actual dirt from the owner.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27And it's almost a greasy substance, where it's been worn such a long
0:35:27 > 0:35:30time without being cleaned.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33This is our... one of our prize pieces.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36It is a hand-knitted stocking,
0:35:36 > 0:35:38part of a hand-knitted stocking,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41possibly one that would have only come to the ankle,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43just over the foot.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46It's a wonderful feeling to think that no-one's ever touched this
0:35:46 > 0:35:47and it's so old.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51And you're touching it for the first time for over 400 years.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54It really gives you... It does, it gives me a great feeling.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58One of the reasons some of the clothes survived
0:35:58 > 0:36:02was because they were preserved within sealed wooden chests.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06I think the chests we found, and we found over 50 of them,
0:36:06 > 0:36:08are really important because they give us insights
0:36:08 > 0:36:11into the lives of individual people.
0:36:11 > 0:36:13You know, one of them might have nice shoes,
0:36:13 > 0:36:15or might be learned and have books.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17We found the book covers.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19They might be well-off and would have pewter items.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22But they then also might have aspects of
0:36:22 > 0:36:24their profession in those chests.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27One chest uncovered in 1980 revealed the identity of one
0:36:27 > 0:36:29of the most important men on board.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER:- The box contained medicinal materials,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36like these peppercorns in their wooden jar.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39It was the complete kit of a barber surgeon,
0:36:39 > 0:36:41specialising in naval medicine.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44Packed with mixing bowls, bleeding bowls,
0:36:44 > 0:36:46a chafing dish, ceramic pots
0:36:46 > 0:36:48and even jars half-full of ointment,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51in which the man's finger marks can still be seen.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54Nothing like this has ever been found before.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56- DAN SNOW: - After years of research and study,
0:36:56 > 0:36:58Timewatch revisited the barber surgeon's chest
0:36:58 > 0:37:00to reveal what secrets it had given up,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03and what it could tell us about this crucial member
0:37:03 > 0:37:05of the ship's company.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08The ordinary soldiers and sailors on the Mary Rose,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10who were people in the prime of life
0:37:10 > 0:37:13and were the strongest and fittest
0:37:13 > 0:37:17soldiers and sailors in the nation, by and large,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20erm...they would not, in day-to-day life,
0:37:20 > 0:37:22have the services of a barber surgeon.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26So, it was seen as a reassurance to the crew
0:37:26 > 0:37:30that they had a surgeon on board to tend to their wounds
0:37:30 > 0:37:32and their general health.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36The barber surgeon's role varied hugely,
0:37:36 > 0:37:39from amputations and the extraction of bullets
0:37:39 > 0:37:41and arrows in warfare,
0:37:41 > 0:37:42to the more obscure,
0:37:42 > 0:37:44like the letting of blood,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47a common practice in the 16th century
0:37:47 > 0:37:49for over-energetic young men.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52He was even responsible
0:37:52 > 0:37:54for the pulling of teeth.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58HE GROANS AND SCREAMS
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Some of the instruments in the surgeon's chest
0:38:00 > 0:38:02were quite horrendous.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Erm...included amongst these were an array of syringes.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10There was a urethral syringe for the administration of mercury
0:38:10 > 0:38:12for the French pox.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15We always called our nasty diseases after our enemies.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20It took a bit of detective work to make sense
0:38:20 > 0:38:23of some of the items in the barber surgeon's kit.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28An innocuous-looking bench turned out to be used to set broken limbs.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30And although the metal had all corroded away,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34enough of the handles were left of the surgeon's grisly
0:38:34 > 0:38:37array of tools to give you a real sense of what he got up to.
0:38:37 > 0:38:38There were bone saws,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41cautering irons and needles.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44And as for those three large urethral syringes,
0:38:44 > 0:38:46they don't bear thinking about.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51The items found in the chests gave the archaeologists
0:38:51 > 0:38:55a glimpse into the lives of specific individuals.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58But the wealth of the finds, when looked at together,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01revealed much more about life on board,
0:39:01 > 0:39:05as Collections Manager Andy Elkerton explained for Timewatch.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11The ship would have been quite crowded.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15You're talking about a crew of over 415 men.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18If you put the officers retinue on top of that,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20you're probably approximating 500.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25Life on board would have been pretty grim.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28The ship would have been dark, gloomy,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31pretty airless, for the most part.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34We're not talking about a society where showers and baths
0:39:34 > 0:39:36are the norm, and we're certainly not talking
0:39:36 > 0:39:41about a vessel where facilities for having a wash are the norm.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Within the dark, cramped hull,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45the crew worked and played.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47CREW CHAT AND SING
0:39:51 > 0:39:55We've got a lot of evidence for what the crew did in their spare time.
0:39:55 > 0:39:56We found a lot of dice on board.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59The Tudors were inveterate gamblers.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02On top of a barrel, we've got a game, Nine Men's Morris.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04We also found a backgammon set -
0:40:04 > 0:40:07beautiful work of art it is, too.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10And for those who could afford it,
0:40:10 > 0:40:13the coins to gamble with.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Recent analysis of the gold coins by the Royal Mint
0:40:16 > 0:40:18shows that of the 28 coins,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22five - and, interestingly, it's the five newest coins,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24minted just before the Mary Rose sank -
0:40:24 > 0:40:26show signs of debasement.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28And that means the level of gold in those coins
0:40:28 > 0:40:30has been significantly reduced.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Henry VIII had taken England to the brink of bankruptcy,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36so debasing his currency was one of the only ways he had
0:40:36 > 0:40:37of paying his debts.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40It's fascinating to hear an echo of that story
0:40:40 > 0:40:43here in the coins at the Mary Rose.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48Gold coins are almost synonymous with the idea of a shipwreck.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51But one thing no-one expected to find on board
0:40:51 > 0:40:53was a pile of simple bricks.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57I remember when I found the first brick on the Mary Rose
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and my colleagues thought I was being silly, that this
0:41:00 > 0:41:02wasn't of interest. They thought it must be a modern brick.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05But the advantage of doing things archaeologically
0:41:05 > 0:41:08is, because of the layer you find it in, I knew this was a Tudor brick.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10So, I insisted that they took it seriously.
0:41:10 > 0:41:15And then, later, we found another 4,000 pieces of brick.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17In fact, what Christopher Dobbs had found
0:41:17 > 0:41:20was the remains of the ship's kitchens.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23And this seemingly useless jumble of bricks
0:41:23 > 0:41:26would transform our understanding of Tudor cooking.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29If you look at the historical records for the Mary Rose,
0:41:29 > 0:41:34it has these obscure references to "a cauldron in furnace",
0:41:34 > 0:41:36set in lime and brick.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38And nobody really knew what that was.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40But what we actually found underwater
0:41:40 > 0:41:43was that it was exactly that.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER: - From the location of the bricks
0:41:45 > 0:41:47and brass cauldrons found deep in the hold of the ship,
0:41:47 > 0:41:49the archaeologists have been able
0:41:49 > 0:41:52to construct a picture of what the Mary Rose's galley might have
0:41:52 > 0:41:54looked like and, from this,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57work out how they would have cooked.
0:42:00 > 0:42:01What looks at first sight
0:42:01 > 0:42:04like a fairly crude cooking arrangement -
0:42:04 > 0:42:08it's basically just a cauldron set above a brick oven -
0:42:08 > 0:42:11can actually be used to cook in a variety of different ways.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14You could cook just a basic broth,
0:42:14 > 0:42:15perhaps for the crew,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18but in that you could cook different things.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21They could have bags, like muslin bags,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24that would hold enough meat and peas
0:42:24 > 0:42:26for one whole mess of people -
0:42:26 > 0:42:29that is 8, 10 or 12 people.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31And then, in front of the oven,
0:42:31 > 0:42:33using the radiant heat from the fire,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36we could cook on normal pottery or
0:42:36 > 0:42:40iron cooking pots, that we actually found. And it's actually shown
0:42:40 > 0:42:42that this was really a very sophisticated cooker,
0:42:42 > 0:42:45like a modern-day Aga but with a great big cauldron,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48and it wasn't just a crude cooking range.
0:42:48 > 0:42:53It seems pretty remarkable that from an unpromising pile of bricks
0:42:53 > 0:42:56historians were able to unlock such a wealth of information
0:42:56 > 0:42:58about Tudor kitchens and cooking.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05This replica brick oven shows how those breakthroughs were made,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09by building working examples to test out historical theories.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12It must have been a terrifying jigsaw puzzle with no plans,
0:43:12 > 0:43:14no existing examples.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16They just had to sound it out as they went along.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19A big case of trial and error.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21As the discovery of the bricks proved,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23even the most unlikely objects
0:43:23 > 0:43:26and most mundane finds could be crucial.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30As the archaeologists continued to work down through
0:43:30 > 0:43:32the layers of mud and silt,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34they knew there could be clues
0:43:34 > 0:43:36all around them that were being missed.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41Invisible to the naked eye were countless tiny fragments
0:43:41 > 0:43:44of evidence that would only emerge later, back in the lab.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49So, to unlock the secrets hidden in the mud,
0:43:49 > 0:43:51a painstaking operation was begun.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER: - These racks in the basement
0:43:55 > 0:43:57of the Mary Rose Trust building hold
0:43:57 > 0:44:00the thousands of environmental samples taken during the dig.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03Ian Oxley and his various volunteer assistants
0:44:03 > 0:44:06are attempting to assess the range of this material.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11No underwater site has ever been so thoroughly sampled.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Through the microscope, Ian can see a fragment of some textile...
0:44:17 > 0:44:18..a seed...
0:44:21 > 0:44:23..and the corpses of two Tudor fleas,
0:44:23 > 0:44:27which confirm the need for all the flea combs found on board.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31The raw materials of one of these samples looks like this.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33After much patient sorting and sieving,
0:44:33 > 0:44:35one four-litre container can yield
0:44:35 > 0:44:37a variety of materials,
0:44:37 > 0:44:39including samples of textile,
0:44:39 > 0:44:40perhaps from a garment or a stocking,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44profuse quantities of plant remains of various sorts,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47and many other curious items.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50Frank Green deals with the plant materials.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54This work on the Mary Rose is really starting from scratch.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57And compared with normal, land-based archaeology,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59it is a completely different world.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01We have materials that are surviving here
0:45:01 > 0:45:03which we've never seen perhaps previously.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06These are, in fact, actually pods of broom, or cytisus,
0:45:06 > 0:45:09and these come from several locations on the wreck.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12It may well just simply have been to pack round objects.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14It may be that some of the stems were used
0:45:14 > 0:45:16for actually scrubbing down the decks.
0:45:16 > 0:45:21This, in fact, is a sample of peppercorns, black pepper.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23These have been found in several locations on the wreck.
0:45:23 > 0:45:25These particular ones come from a container
0:45:25 > 0:45:27in the barber surgeon's chest,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30and are really very well preserved.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Pepper was used for a variety of purposes.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39Medicinal, herbal and, of course, it was used as a food flavouring.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42And it may well be that the average seaman even
0:45:42 > 0:45:46had a small quantity of pepper to flavour his rather boring food.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Many of the plant remains actually still contain
0:45:49 > 0:45:51something of their original smell.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53It does appear that the essential
0:45:53 > 0:45:56oils contained in pepper and other plant materials has survived.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59And so, in fact, actually it's quite remarkable that you can pick up
0:45:59 > 0:46:01material that even has a scent about it,
0:46:01 > 0:46:03of the period we're dealing with.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09The environmental sampling on the Mary Rose was a first
0:46:09 > 0:46:11for British underwater archaeology.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13That hard work and dedication by the scientists
0:46:13 > 0:46:17shed new light on a whole weird and wonderful range of subjects.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20From what fleas were on board the ship
0:46:20 > 0:46:22to what crops were grown in Tudor England.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24But it was a colossal task.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26In fact, so many samples were taken
0:46:26 > 0:46:29and stored carefully in plastic ice-cream tubs,
0:46:29 > 0:46:31that the team couldn't hope to analyse them all.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34But that's the dilemma on a site like the Mary Rose.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37There's just too much to be saved.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39And so the archaeologists face difficult decisions
0:46:39 > 0:46:42about where to focus the limited time and money.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47In the four years of excavations,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50over 19,000 individual objects were recovered.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55Each had to be meticulously preserved and catalogued,
0:46:55 > 0:46:56and that took decades.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01While they were waiting, archaeologists and historians
0:47:01 > 0:47:04could look at the finds as a whole unified collection,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06not just in isolation.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10By joining the dots between often random objects,
0:47:10 > 0:47:14new insights emerged about one subject that's come to define
0:47:14 > 0:47:16Henry VIII's reign - religion.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20- TIMEWATCH PRESENTER:- This is a tankard with an inscription on it,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23beside the bones of a small pet dog.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26The inscription begins, "Sit deus nobis."
0:47:26 > 0:47:29On deck, the remainder of the Latin tag was revealed.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33"Sit deus nobiscum, quid contra nos."
0:47:33 > 0:47:36Which is a quote from Romans 8, and it means,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39"If God is with us, who can be against us?"
0:47:39 > 0:47:43And we've got quite a few of these illustrations of religion
0:47:43 > 0:47:45and people's beliefs on board the wreck.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47So, we've got that on the tankard.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50But then we've also got book covers.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53Again, quite amazing to find something like book covers
0:47:53 > 0:47:56on a shipwreck, and they're all drawn here.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01But some of them actually have, erm...sayings, again, like this,
0:48:01 > 0:48:03"Verbum domini, manet in Aeternum,"
0:48:03 > 0:48:07"The word of the Lord lasts forever."
0:48:07 > 0:48:10This was a time of intense religious turmoil.
0:48:10 > 0:48:16Henry VIII had broken with Rome over his divorce of Catherine of Aragon.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Catholicism was being suppressed.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24And yet, on the Mary Rose
0:48:24 > 0:48:26it seems to be Catholic faith
0:48:26 > 0:48:28that was very much in evidence.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34Eight complete sets of rosary beads were found,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37some perfectly preserved.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44It's fascinating to get this sort of insight into
0:48:44 > 0:48:47the religious upheaval at the time, because in 1547
0:48:47 > 0:48:52the whole practice of using rosaries was frowned upon in an injunction,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55and if lay people were caught using them,
0:48:55 > 0:48:57they had to be warned by the clergy.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01So, to get glimpses into this very, very great upheaval
0:49:01 > 0:49:03in religion in Europe at one time is quite stunning.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07When the archaeologists set out to excavate the ship in 1979,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10I bet few of them dreamt that over 30 years later we'd still be
0:49:10 > 0:49:12learning new information from the artefacts
0:49:12 > 0:49:15they were digging out of the mud. And that's one of the key reasons
0:49:15 > 0:49:17why the Mary Rose has been so important.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20The research has continued uninterrupted for decades.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23And when all those individual finds are looked at together,
0:49:23 > 0:49:26new information and new links emerge.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40In 1982,
0:49:40 > 0:49:44after nearly four years of intensive digging,
0:49:44 > 0:49:47and with tens of thousands of objects safely on shore,
0:49:47 > 0:49:50there was just one artefact left to recover -
0:49:50 > 0:49:52the ship itself.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56Raising the Mary Rose was an epic task,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00unlike anything attempted in Britain before or since.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02The team would have to put their faith in new technologies,
0:50:02 > 0:50:05some of which were untested at the time.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08The preparation took months
0:50:08 > 0:50:11and everything was planned with military precision,
0:50:11 > 0:50:12quite literally,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16as the Royal Engineers played a key role in the salvage operation.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23A giant steel frame had been built to support the hull during the lift,
0:50:23 > 0:50:27and the first stage was to tow and manoeuvre this into position.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32Once the frame was securely on the seabed, then the archaeologists
0:50:32 > 0:50:35tunnelled underneath the hull and drilled holes in the ship's
0:50:35 > 0:50:39structure for support wires to be attached to the huge steel frame.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46The final stage before the actual lift, was to manoeuvre
0:50:46 > 0:50:50a giant steel cradle into position above the hull and the steel frame
0:50:50 > 0:50:51it was now attached to.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55All this was done underwater and almost blind.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01To help guide the Mary Rose into this cradle,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05a pioneering acoustic rangefinder was used for the first time.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10Once safely in position, a giant crane then lifted the whole
0:51:10 > 0:51:12thing slowly towards the surface.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18If anything wasn't exactly in place, the ship could be torn apart
0:51:18 > 0:51:20before a global television audience.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27Hello and welcome to Southsea Castle for what promises to
0:51:27 > 0:51:29be the most remarkable archaeological
0:51:29 > 0:51:32event that we in this country are ever likely to see.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35During the last few days before the lifting, the world's attention
0:51:35 > 0:51:37started to be turned on us.
0:51:37 > 0:51:38There was press everywhere,
0:51:38 > 0:51:40and, particularly, I remember
0:51:40 > 0:51:42waking up on the morning before the lift
0:51:42 > 0:51:46and we came out of our bunks on the salvage vessel,
0:51:46 > 0:51:50and around us there was this complete ring of yachts,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53who were just coming to get a place, to see the greatest
0:51:53 > 0:51:56show on earth that was going to unfold over the next few days.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59And I think that's when we realised that there really was
0:51:59 > 0:52:04an enormous amount of public and press interest in the project.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06We lived and breathed to raise the Mary Rose.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10I wouldn't think that any member of that full-time team
0:52:10 > 0:52:13would for a second have thought that we wouldn't have raised
0:52:13 > 0:52:15the Mary Rose. And actually, that's quite interesting.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19But the most amazing camaraderie. You can meet somebody after 20 years
0:52:19 > 0:52:21and it's like... You know them better than
0:52:21 > 0:52:23you know your family, really.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25I think it's being... I mean, I've never been to war
0:52:25 > 0:52:28and I'm very lucky I haven't, but it's the sort of camaraderie
0:52:28 > 0:52:31I think you might feel when you're in a very intense situation
0:52:31 > 0:52:33with a close group of people.
0:52:33 > 0:52:34Brilliant!
0:52:43 > 0:52:45With everything in place,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49the crane began to carefully lift the hull from the water.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55There is the wreck of the Mary Rose - it has come to the surface.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58There is the first sight of this
0:52:58 > 0:53:00flagship of Henry VIII.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04It's the first time we have seen this in 437 years.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07That moment when the Mary Rose broke through the water
0:53:07 > 0:53:11was the culmination of ten years of hard work by archaeologists.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13The lift was anything but straightforward.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16There were delays for technical and engineering reasons,
0:53:16 > 0:53:20strong tides and good old, unpredictable British weather.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22While it was happening, the archaeologists were forced to
0:53:22 > 0:53:28sit back and rely totally on the salvage experts and crane operators,
0:53:28 > 0:53:32watching as a lifetime's work literally hung in the balance.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35I was very young at the time of the lifting.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38One of my earliest memories is watching the Mary Rose
0:53:38 > 0:53:42slowly get lifted out of the water with a room full of grown-ups.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45The excitement in the room was palpable and there was a moment
0:53:45 > 0:53:48when...the boat shifted, I think one of the strops snapped
0:53:48 > 0:53:50and it settled slightly. And everyone was completely terrified.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57You know, I really remember that moment
0:53:57 > 0:54:00when we had a problem lifting, because I was being interviewed
0:54:00 > 0:54:02and then this enormous crash happened,
0:54:02 > 0:54:04but it was quite tense.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06But, luckily, there was no damage to the hull
0:54:06 > 0:54:09and we were able, after a while, to carry on with the salvage.
0:54:10 > 0:54:14The team could finally celebrate years of tireless work.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19And in a last symbolic act, the Mary Rose was towed
0:54:19 > 0:54:21back into Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25Henry VIII's favourite warship had returned to almost the exact spot
0:54:25 > 0:54:30where she had been built some 470 years before.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34But the story of the hull was just beginning.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36Sitting in a dry dock,
0:54:36 > 0:54:37she was exposed to the air,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40and in real danger of being destroyed.
0:54:40 > 0:54:41So, almost immediately,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45a long and complex operation to preserve the Mary Rose began.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49In the shelter of a huge tent,
0:54:49 > 0:54:53the archaeologists could also begin to record her in minute detail.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57At last, we've just started our survey work of the ship.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00Nobody knows anything about how these ships were built.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02There are no plans, no drawings, no models.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04She had a very long active service,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07and in 1536 she was rebuilt.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Whether or not this was complete, or was only partial,
0:55:10 > 0:55:15we hope the answers will come out of this very detailed survey work.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17In 1986,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20Timewatch was there to witness the exciting moment
0:55:20 > 0:55:24when the first of the Mary Rose's deck planks was reinstated.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29The cabins, the superstructures, are all to be replaced.
0:55:29 > 0:55:33So, the first piece of timber is just about to be refitted.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34It's a good fit.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39- It's good.- That's beautiful. - Right, we're there, at this end.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41It's nice and snug. First class.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43That's excellent.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47The preservation took rather longer than predicted.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50In 2004, Timewatch returned to see how the work
0:55:50 > 0:55:52had progressed in 20 years.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01Right underneath the Mary Rose, under the starboard side of the stern
0:56:01 > 0:56:04and towering above us, is the bulk of the Mary Rose.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08And from this area, we can get an impression of the ship's lines,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10the very fine lines of the ship.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13But also, underneath the ship, here, we can get some of the
0:56:13 > 0:56:17impression of the repairs that were done during the life of the ship.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20So, up here we've got one repair piece, there.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24It's actually a patch that's been let into the timbers of the ship,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27at some time during the ship's life.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31We've leant an enormous amount about the hull since it was raised,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33partly because so little was known beforehand.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36There were no ship's plans of the Mary Rose. It predates that period,
0:56:36 > 0:56:38which is why it's so important.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41But one of the programmes that we HAVE done is a programme of
0:56:41 > 0:56:43dendrochronology, which is tree-ring dating,
0:56:43 > 0:56:45and this has been fantastic,
0:56:45 > 0:56:49because it's confirmed some of our theories about which
0:56:49 > 0:56:51timbers date to the original build,
0:56:51 > 0:56:54and which timbers date to a rebuild,
0:56:54 > 0:56:56or a refit, or a repair period.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59And that's been very important for just seeing the life of a ship.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02You know, she was in service for 34 years.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07It's hard to grasp just how big the remains of the Mary Rose are
0:57:07 > 0:57:08until you see them up close.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12And today, the ship is finally nearing the end
0:57:12 > 0:57:15of her long journey to full preservation.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19The timbers are now being carefully air-dried,
0:57:19 > 0:57:22after being sprayed with water and wax
0:57:22 > 0:57:24for over 30 years.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34In 2012, a new museum was built around the hull,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37costing some £27 million.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41It was only possible after the decades of painstaking work
0:57:41 > 0:57:44to uncover the story of the Mary Rose.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52The story of the Mary Rose has been teased out over
0:57:52 > 0:57:54the course of my lifetime, and it's not over yet.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57The research continues and every new development
0:57:57 > 0:58:01fills in gaps, presenting us with an ever-clearer picture
0:58:01 > 0:58:05of this iconic ship and the crew who sailed on her.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07So much has been learned during the 40 or so years
0:58:07 > 0:58:09of the Mary Rose story,
0:58:09 > 0:58:12from how to manage and undertake a vast underwater dig,
0:58:12 > 0:58:16to the use of pioneering conservation techniques.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20It really did revolutionise underwater archaeology.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23But perhaps what makes the Mary Rose so special
0:58:23 > 0:58:26are the finds, both big and small.
0:58:26 > 0:58:30Each of them has opened a window into a lost Tudor world
0:58:30 > 0:58:32that, without the Mary Rose,
0:58:32 > 0:58:34historians would just have to guess at.