|
August 12, 2008 10:45 PM
By Peter Griffiths
LONDON - The sinking of the 16th century warship Mary Rose is one of the
biggest puzzles of British naval history, with many theories
put forward to explain its sudden loss during a battle with
French invaders in July 1545.
One leading theory says it sank after it dipped its side
low in the water during a tight turn, allowing water to flood
in through unsecured gun ports.
Now researchers have come up with a new explanation for the
failure to close the covers: there was a crucial delay between
the order being given by English-speaking officers and it being
understood by foreign crew members.
New forensic tests on the teeth of 18 crewmen suggest up to
60 per cent of the crew may not have been British. They were
more likely to have come from warmer parts of southern Europe.
The research also uncovered an account in Henry's state
papers of how 600 captured Spanish soldiers had sought refuge
in England after their boats were caught in a storm six months
before the Mary Rose sank.
The men were pressed into military service for Britain,
possibly in the navy, while sailors from mainland Europe were
also recruited to help ease a shortage of crew.
Researchers will argue in a television documentary on
Britain's Channel Five network (www.five.tv) that some of these
men could have ended up on the Mary Rose.
"It looks like the Mary Rose was a ship lost in
translation," a Five spokesman said. "In the heat of battle, at
a moment when the ship was attempting to make a quick manoeuvre,
the order to close the gun port lids may not have been
understood."
The Tudor warship, said to have been Henry's favorite, was
one of the first capable of firing a broadside and had holes
cut along the side for its heavy guns.
Many historians believe that a sudden rush of water through
these holes fatally destabilized the ship, sending it to the
bottom of the Solent off the south coast of England.
It lay on the seabed for more than 400 years before it was
raised in a delicate salvage operation in 1982. Now housed in a
museum in Portsmouth, it is the only 16th century warship on
display anywhere in the world (www.maryrose.org).
(Reuters Life!)
|
