The Mary Rose sinks in the Solent

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On 19 July 1545, the Tudor warship Mary Rose sank in the Solent during a battle with a large French invasion fleet, in full view of King Henry VIII watching from Southsea. The Mary Rose was one of the largest ships in the English fleet, carrying a crew of around 400 men together with heavy guns and soldiers. She had served the king since 1511 and had been rebuilt and re-armed in 1536. The exact cause of the sinking remains debated. Contemporary accounts suggest that the ship heeled sharply while turning and took on water through her open gun ports, capsizing in minutes. Only around 35 of the crew survived. The French fleet, which had landed troops on the Isle of Wight, was eventually repelled, but the loss of the Mary Rose was a severe blow to the English navy. The wreck lay on the seabed of the Solent for over four centuries, gradually becoming buried in silt that preserved the lower hull and thousands of artefacts. The ship was rediscovered in 1971 and raised in October 1982 in a pioneering salvage operation. The hull and artefacts are now displayed in the Mary Rose Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.