The Mary Rose 2009
In September 2009 a group from Brockenhurst Gateway Club visited the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth docks. We saw the hull of the Mary Rose being sprayed with chemicals to preserve the ancient wood. This year the sprays have being turned off and the ship hall section of the museum has been closed to allow the ship to dry out. In a couple of year’s time the ship will be viewable as never before. We will be able to walk around her at deck level and see every detail clearly without the mist of the sprays.
In May this year, Trevor and Vernon came to club and brought some of the ship’s artefacts for us to see. We handled cups and plates in wood and pewter, looked at the barber surgeon’s tools, felt the weight of a musket and tried to bend an archer’s bow. Now we can’t wait for the ship hall to open again, so that we can go to Portsmouth and walk beside the boards that were trodden by the sailors of Henry VIII’s navy, 450 years ago.