The Mary Rose – 25 Years of Visits

The story of the Mary Rose goes back over 500 years, from when the plans were made for the building to commence in 1510 right to the visitors that walked through the gates of Portsmouth dockyard today to go and see her. She was Henry VIII’s flagship and for almost thirty-five years this vessel had been at the forefront of the King’s navy, right up to the sighting of a French fleet off the Isle of Wight that led to the Mary Rose to head out of Portsmouth harbour and capsize in front of Henry himself. Nobody knows the actual death toll, some say it is up to 700 people, all we know is that only around 35 survived, mostly due to the fact that anti-boarding nets were covering the ship to repel the French boarding teams, instead trapping anybody on board from escaping from the sinking ship. 

The Deane Brothers worked on the wreck in the early 1800s, salvaging a few cannons before once again the remains were lost to history, that is until the early 1970s when Alexander McKee made it his mission to locate the Mary Rose and finally tell the story of this forgotten shipwreck. He was successful and within a few years had salvaged some of the most amazing artefacts that told us more about Tudor history than any other archaeological site. But he was planning something bigger – to raise the entire ship itself. On 11 October 1982 his dream became a reality when he stood by The Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) to watch Henry VIII’s ship finally see the light of day after 437 years.

It was May 1999 when I first came to Portsmouth dockyard to see the museum, I had read about the wreck as a child and was fascinated to learn more about the story, particularly the salvage effort to get an entire shipwreck up and into a museum, a mammoth task that had very rarely been achieved (save for the Vasa in Sweden nearly thirty years before that). But this bank holiday weekend allowed me to finally see the wreck for myself.

Paying for my ticket at the dockyard gate, I made my way over to a more modern and flat roofed building that was out of context compared to the surrounding structures that dated anywhere between the mid-1700s and Victorian times, inside was a wealth of cabinets full of Tudor treasures, the pewter jug that I had seen in a school textbook years earlier, the shiny metal plates that the sailors would eat their meals from, cannon rigged up against the backdrop of a reconstruction of the Mary Rose’s gunports, the list was endless. Models showed how the wreck was raised and photograph displays catalogued the decade-long salvage of the most incredible relics ever salvaged from a shipwreck. Needless to say the gift shop cost me dearly…. I had to get as many souvenirs and books as possible to learn more about this ship and her crew.

But now it was on to the ship itself, kept separate from the artefacts in the dry dock that the wreck was placed in back in 1982. The wreck of the Mary Rose is only half there, as the ship laid on the seabed on her side, the exposed section of the ship was ravaged by time, tides, fishing nets, sea creatures and everything else that could possibly wear it away over four centuries. What remained had been covered in protective mud, the seabed of the Solent being a protector of this time capsule and so as the wreck was raised and later placed in an upright position, it gave a unique exposure to each deck like a cutaway diagram in real-life. As I went to what now resembled a huge white tent, the walkway leading to the Mary Rose was noisy, you could hear the spray systems still covering the timbers with a chemical substance that would replace the water within the timbers, eventually the treatment would stop but back in 1999 it was still very much a work in progress. The glass protecting the visitors from the chemical sprays were very misted up and dirty, it would be impossible to keep them clean, but you could make out the ship as you walked from one end to the other. The cutaway of an archer was placed at the top mid-ships section to signify where the archaeologists had found the remains of an archer with his leather pouch, I had made a note to look out of this after seeing it being highlighted on the TV show Blue Peter back when they did a special report in about 1993. Fascinated to see the Mary Rose at last, I knew that this would not be the last time I would visit the museum and indeed I made a number of further visits over the next few years until finally the museum closed for the last time.

Funding had been granted for the Mary Rose to be housed with all her artefacts in a new purpose-built museum covering the dry dock, all the artefacts were moved out of the current museum and placed in storage while the building work went ahead until finally in 2013 it was time to open the doors. As a member of the Mary Rose society I was gutted that my membership did not get me any kind of access to the ceremony, in fact they had disbanded it completely and renamed it to which I quickly joined and was then invited to be a current guest’s “plus one” to enjoy the opening. At the time I was dating a woman who I had to tell to hang on while I attended this last-minute event, incredibly she completely understood the importance of this and actually waited up the road for me to come back out. I genuinely wondered if she would be waiting there by the time I got out!

The build up was excellent, I met Margaret Rule who was part of the original excavation team back in the 1970s and this then turned into an amazing ceremonial unveiling of the museum with the bell from the Mary Rose making an entrance surrounding by members of the crew of HMS Duncan, the doors opened for guests and I quickly headed inside to see a remarkable exhibition of artefacts and treasures. If I had thought that the previous museum was good, this one just blew me away. To actually see through clear glass windows at the Mary Rose wreck now that the sprays had been stopped was amazing to finally see. But today it was a passing visit as I quickly checked all the exhibits, thanked my host and ran to make sure my date was still waiting for me at the dockyard gates.

Since that day I have visited the Mary Rose Museum so many times I have stopped counting. You can stand on a balcony overlooking the wreck and actually be in the same room as the lost ship, the most surreal experience is being able to smell the wood as you walk in, something that you don’t think about until you are there. More artefacts and exhibitions have been introduced over the last decade including a dog that has been named Hatch (because it was found next to one of the hatches) and a 4D experience of the salvage dives. The museum hosts a café and a well-stocked gift shop that always has something new that then appears on my Christmas list.

Due to my passion about the Mary Rose, it was right that at some point I should include it in my books and I have not only done a chapter in both The 50 Greatest Shipwrecks and Shipwrecks of the Solent, but in tribute to the discoverer I have dedicated the latter to Alexander McKee who in my opinion is a hero of archaeology and this entire project would be nothing without him. Two things at this point made me feel great about this museum, first of all Shipwrecks of the Solent is on sale in the gift shop and secondly my girlfriend did wait for me that day in 2013 and wanted to know all about what I had seen. That girl is now my wife and we have been married since 2016, needless to say we have spent many hours in the Mary Rose Museum ever since.

So in 25 years I have seen a number of amazing changes to the Mary Rose, from the cramped museum with limited artefacts and a ship-hall that you could barely see through the glass, to a custom-built marvel that shows the Mary Rose in all her glory and continues to tell the story of a tragic day in 1545 that ended with a piece of Tudor history being frozen in time.

Here’s to the next 25 years of visits!

Modern Day Submarine Disasters

When you think of a submarine disaster, perhaps your mind goes back to the Kursk or even the Second World War. But In the last 24 years since the sinking of the Kursk there have been a number of accidents and disasters that have cost lives at sea and called into question the safety of some of those that are allowed to dive to depths that perhaps they are not meant to go. Here is a catalogue of some of those accidents (Image left shows a decommissioned Russian submarine).

9 February 2001 – Off the coast of Hawaii, the USS Greeneville surfaced underneath high school training vessel Ehime Maru causing the vessel to sink killing nine of the 35 people on board. The submarine was damaged and the captain took full responsibility. Just months later on 27 August the Greeneville ran aground in Saipan causing minor damage. 

27 January 2002 – In the third incident in a year, USS Greeneville collided with the amphibious transport dock USS Ogden off the coast of Oman causing damage to the Ogden.

May 2003 – Chinese submarine numbered 361 had an incident on board that ended up having the entire crew of 70 killed by suffocation. The submarine was towed to port and a number of senior officers were dismissed from the navy as a result of the inquiry.  

5 October 2004 – During her first voyage since being purchased from the Royal Navy, the Canadian submarine HMCS Chicoutimi (below) was running on the surface in bad weather when water came in through open hatches causing an electrical fire. Several of her crew were airlifted off for medical attention, one of whom died on the way to hospital.

8 January 2005 – Los Angeles Class nuclear submarine USS San Francisco collides with an undersea mountain off Guam with the impact so severe the submarine was almost lost. One sailor was killed and a further 98 others were injured, the bow of the submarine completely wrecked, evident by photos released to the media upon her arrival in Guam two days later which showed the extent of the disaster and an embarrassment to the US Navy.

5 August 2005 – The rescue submersible Priz AS-28 was carrying out operations off the Kamchatka Peninsula when the craft became entangled in netting on the seabed. A huge rescue operation was mounted and Russia accepted the help to rescue the seven crew in response to the disastrous refusal five years earlier during the Kursk disaster. The submarine was freed with very little time to spare and the crew rescued successfully by the Royal Navy (image below shows the Priz surfacing).

6 September 2006 – Russian submarine Daniil Mosokovsky was anchored near the Norwegian border when a fire broke out on board killing two of the crew.

29 December 2006 – The nuclear submarine USS Minneapolis-St Paul was leaving Plymouth, UK, in rough seas after a port visit over the Christmas period. Three crew were helping the pilot to disembark to his boat and were swept overboard as the submarine passed the breakwater, two of them later pronounced dead.

21 March 2007 – The Royal Navy submarine HMS Tireless (below) was carrying out duties near the North Pole when an oxygen explosion in the forward section of the submarine killed two members of the crew.

8 November 2008 – 20 crew of the Russian submarine Nerpa are killed in a gas leak in the Sea of Japan.

11 April 2010 - A shooting on board HMS Astute while on a visit to Southampton leaves one crew member dead and several others injured. The gunman was a crew member and is tackled and later jailed for life. 

14 August 2013 – The Indian submarine Sindhurakshak suffered a fire alongside her berth at Mumbai and explosions caused the loss of the submarine and caused the deaths of 18 of the crew. The submarine was salvaged from her position and later towed out to sea and sunk in deep water (the image below shows the submarine just a few months before the disaster).

11 March 2016 – North Korean submarine is reportedly lost in the Sea of Japan with no further information released other than what US military observations found.

11 August 2017 – In a bizarre case, the home-made submarine UC3 Nautilus sank off Denmark with two people on board, the single survivor, owner Peter Madsen (below) later being found to have murdered the journalist Kim Wall and dismembered her body before deliberately sinking the Nautilus to cover his tracks. He was later jailed for life.

15 November 2017 – The Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan vanishes in the South Atlantic with 44 crew on board. A huge search and rescue operation was carried out but the wreck of the submarine was not found until a year and a day later when it was announced that the submarine had imploded and was now laying broken up on the seabed.

1 July 2019 – Russian submarine Losharik suffers a fire on board which kills 14 crew.

21 April 2021 – The forty-year-old Indonesian diesel-electric submarine KRI Nanggala 402 was on a general exercise with 52 people on board when she went missing in the Bali Sea. A search of the area found that she had been found on the seabed in three pieces just 12 miles from where she had reported her last position.

2 October 2021 – US Navy nuclear submarine USS Connecticut collides with an undersea mountain mid-Pacific leaving eleven crew with minor injuries.

18 June 2023 – The commercial submersible Titan (right), owned by exploration company Oceangate was on an expedition to the wreck of the liner Titanic when all contact was lost with the craft. Carrying five crew on board, the international search carried out mid-Atlantic captured the world’s attention as questions were asked about the suitability of the submarine for not only carrying passengers but diving full stop. The wreckage of the submersible was located four days later around 1,600 feet from the Titanic wreck.

20 September 2023 – The South African navy submarine SAS Manthatisi was carrying out a vertical transfer of supplies off Cape Town when seven personnel were swept overboard in rough seas. All the crew were recovered but three of them had died in the accident.

These are submarine disasters are are rarely on any memorial, but the losses of crew and passengers are felt just as much long after the headlines have forgotten them and their memories held by the families of those who are on eternal patrol. 

Wartime Bridlington

Recently I have been researching how the town of Bridlington in East Yorkshire fared during the Second World War in order to write a book on this period of history and document the forgotten stories that link here with some of the news stories that took hold during these six years of hardship and horror. So far I have given two talks on this in Bridlington and managed to interview many people to slowly gather the information together and I am impressed with just how much I am able to find. So this blog entry is an appeal for anybody else out there who can add to this story and provide evidence of  just what went on between 1939 and 1945 that made Bridlington stand out. Here are a few of the stories that I have uncovered and which put this small town on the map. 

SS Lulworth Hill - On 19 March 1943 the cargo ship Lulworth Hill was sailing off the coast of western Africa when, in the early hours of the morning, she was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci. 15 people survived, one was taken prisoner on the submarine, the other 14 ended up in a fight for survival on a raft with nobody knowing that they were alive. On board this raft were two lads from Bridlington - Kenneth Cooke and Norman Fowler. After an incredible fifty days on the raft, only Kenneth and another man, Hull sailor Colin Armitage, were still alive. They were rescued by HMS Rapid and both were awarded the George Medal and the Lloyds Medal for Bravery upon their return. Kenneth wrote a book about his experience and on the 80th anniversary of his rescue a blue plaque was unveiled on Bridlington Harbour to commemorate his rescue and awards. 

Gibraltar Air Disaster - On 4 July 1943 a plane carrying Polish leader General Wladyslaw Sikorski took off from the airport in Gibraltar in the middle of a tour of the troops around the battlefields of North Africa and Europe, on board was Bridlington resident Warrant Telegraphist Harry Pinder from Hilderthorpe Road and over a dozen others. But seconds after take-off the plane plunged into the sea and killed 16 of the 17 people on board, the body of Harry Pinder was never found. There have been many conspiracy theories surrounding this disaster but the cause of the crash was thought to be the controls jamming. 

George Cross - When the George Medal and the George Cross was first announced by the King in 1940 one man became the first civilian to be awarded the GC for his bravery during the bombing raids over Bridlington - ARP warden Thomas Hopper Alderson. In August 1940 he pulled out a woman alive from a bombed house on St Alban Road, then days later a family under a collapsed shop on Manor Street and then for a third time when a café collapsed and trapped more people under rubble on Prince Street. Alderson was one of many people who dug with their bare hands to remove the remains of the buildings without any consideration for their own lives, but he was the figurehead of this bravery and so he was put forward to be awarded the GC which he accepted but on behalf of those who were with him on all occasions. He was very humble about his award and would even go on to be awarded another from the RSPCA for assisting in the rescue of horses from a burning stable. His medals are currently on display at the Imperial War Museum. 

George Medals - As well as Kenneth Cooke, three George Medals were awarded to men at Bridlington railway station for an action that took place in July 1940 when a bombing raid saw five people killed on Hilderthorpe Road and a train loaded with ammunition be set on fire in the process. Again without any consideration for their own lives, Ernest Barker from Bridlington, Arthur Harrison and George Whitehurst from Hull, battled the blazes and were successful in saving the station from certain devastation. All three were awarded the GM and plaques were unveiled in 2023 and 2024 for all three heroes in the station hall.

VIP Visits - Prior to the D-Day landings there was a lot of military movement in and around the town, with tanks going down the street and checkpoints set up all over the roadside. But on one occasion it was host to a very special visit when a parade of cars were saluted as they travelled down Cardigan Road - King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth (later our Queen), Montgomery, Eisenhower and even Churchill. To have this many people as high in the British establishment as this in one place was extraordinary! But it was certainly memorable. 

RAF - While there were airfields nearby at Carnaby, Driffield and Lisset, RAF Bridlington was a collection of places dotted around the town consisting of barracks, training areas and guest houses all utilised to contain airmen who were taking part in training in and around the town. Tragedy hit several of the guest houses as the bombing raids led to a number of deaths and injuries, but all in all the town was a huge success to the servicemen who trained here including the fast patrol boats used by Lawrence of Arabia previously in the training of attack aircraft just off the coast. 

HMS Bridlington - The Bangor class minesweeper Bridlington was adopted by the town after her completion and had a friendly affiliation with it's namesake for many years. During the war years she took part in the disastrous Dieppe raid as well as the 1944 D-Day landings before being handed over to the RAF in 1947. After several more years of work including a trip to the Indian Ocean area, she was decommissioned in 1955 and scrapped at Plymouth. The items from the Bridlington such as the name plate and bell are now on display at the Harbour Heritage Museum. 

No 5 Commando - In 1940 Winston Churchill ordered the formation of an elite unit of Army commando's set up to "wreak havoc" on the coasts of the enemy, and so No 5 Commando was born. Set up at Bute House guest house on The Crescent in Bridlington, this became the HQ of the unit from 18 July 1940 until mid-November that same year when it moved on. The training carried out and the later missions of the men involved would later go down in history as being some of the most terrifying missions carried out such as Operation Chariot when the old warship HMS Campbeltown was rigged with explosives and rammed a dry-dock in St Nazaire in 1942, preventing the German battleship Tirpitz from using it later. On 3 April 2024 a plaque will be unveiled at the HQ at No 6 The Crescent, now known as the Carlton Apartments. 

There are so many more aspects to Bridlington at war; the Home Front stories, evacuees, the beach being out of bounds, hidden guns on the harbour, U-boats off the coast, pillboxes on the cliffs, deaths in a foreign land, prisoners of war, rationing and the other bombing raids. So far my research has uncovered so many interesting stories, there is still time to add to this if anybody out there can help with stories, photographs, items of interest (ration books, ID cards, newspapers) that relate to Bridlington at war then please get in touch. My email address is shipwreckdata@yahoo.co.uk or I can be found on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/shipwreck.data if social media is easier. My mission is to get as much of this history preserved for the future generations. 

An air raid siren above Manor Street branch of TSB, still there after over 80 years.