@maryrosemuseum
Home of Henry VIII's favourite ship, the Mary Rose, which sank off the English coast in 1545 after a 34 year long career. #Portsmouth's top visitor attraction on TripAdvisor. Part of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
Our collection of longbows and arrows are unlike anything anywhere else in the world, but what can they tell us about archery in Tudor England?
Find out with our online talk on Saturday 14th March at 14.00 GMT
A square shafted iron nail, with a rounded head.
The nail is one of two that survived, having been dropped into some pitch while it was still liquid. The pitch then solidified, and protected the nail from corrosion when the ship sank...
The bone manicure set; three pointed and two flat ended, decorated side pieces, hinged at one end so it can be folded out like a hand fan.
This manicure set was found in a chest near the carpenter's cabin, which also contained, among several carpentry tools, a complete toilet set, including a shaving mirror and razor!
maryrose.org/artefacts/ma...
A bone manicure set, mounted on a clear stand, next to an iron nail; both recovered from the Mary Rose.
If there's one thing we can say about our carpenter, he looked after his nails...
A pewter flask, with two small loops for attaching it to a missing cord, mounted so the spout, which is covered by a cylindrical cap, is facing downwards, giving it a long-snouted appearance.
Nothing to see here, just a pewter flask that looks like an aardvark.
They'll probably keep using airlifts for those, like we did with the Mary Rose, and Carole Bouquet did with that underwater temple in For Your Eyes Only.
No, sadly they'd not added a submersible to their product line in 1970.
Wonder if they have since?
The Mary Rose sailed for 34 years, and the only inexperienced person on board was the admiral.
maryrose.org/discover/his...
an iron sling (a ribbed cylindrical gun barrel), recovered from the Mary Rose site in 1970.
Ours was this gun, found after five years of searching, which finally gave Alexander McKee the proof he needed that the Mary Rose was still down there.
maryrose.org/alexander-mc...
Clothing fasteners, although there wasn't any cloth associated with them when they were found.
A pewter flask, with two small loops for attaching it to a missing cord, mounted so the spout, which is covered by a cylindrical cap, is facing downwards, giving it a long-snouted appearance.
Nothing to see here, just a pewter flask that looks like an aardvark.
A view of the Mary Rose from towards the stern, showing the internal structure of the ship. The orangey browns of the ship contrast with the blues of the background.
Visited any good museums lately?
Why not come and visit a great one this weekend!
Available as part of the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard ticket - maryrose.org/Book-Now
Our collection of longbows and arrows are unlike anything anywhere else in the world, but what can they tell us about archery in Tudor England?
Find out with our online talk on Saturday 14th March at 14.00 GMT
A round wooden box, made of slats of poplar and a solid round wooden lid
Three pewter clasps, one with a fleur de lis and two with Tudor roses.
A brass pin, about 25mm long.
This round wooden box was found on the orlop deck, which was used as a storage space on the ship.
Made of poplar strips, it contained three pewter clasps and a brass pin, so was almost certainly a personal object, not belonging to the ship.
Sadly, we don't know who owned it.
Seems it's time for everyone's regular reminder that the Mary Rose was around a lot longer than many people think...
maryrose.org/discover/his...
We agree, and it's a lot cheaper on our online shop than it is on eBay, if anyone's looking for a copy!
shop.maryrose.org/products/boo...
There's an even larger range in our museum shop, so get yourself down to the Dockyard this weekend and check them out!
maryrose.org/visit/shop-a...
#WorldBookday doesn't just have to be for kids dressed as Matilda or Spider-Man; why shouldn't adults get in on the reading-based fun!
Treat yourself courtesy of the Mary Rose Shop - from Tales of the Tudor Court to Haynes manuals for 16th century carracks!
shop.maryrose.org/collections/...
Any titles would probably have been on the inside, sadly.
There may have been cheaper options - literacy was probably better than is often believed - but they were probably designed to be disposable, so don't survive.
What could generously be called residue of paper on the inside of one of the Mary Rose book covers, with some Fraktur-style text just about visible.
Paper that had recently been recovered from the sea, with some Fraktur-style text visible. Sadly this perished after recovery.
Paper that had recently been recovered from the sea, with a more Roman-style serif text just about visible. Sadly this perished after recovery.
While the pages didn't survive, we did find traces of them, with the print was still somewhat legible on the remnants that adhered to the inside of the covers.
A leather book cover, with brass clasps and am embossed front, featuring a two headed eagle and the text VERBVM: DOMINI: MANET: IN ETERNVM (‘The word of the Lord endureth for ever’).
A leather book cover, opened to show both the front and the back, which are decorated with embossed animals, and vines, with a rectangular border reading DOMINI EXAUDI ORATIONEM MEAM ET CLAMOR MEUS AD TE VENIAT (Vulgate Psalm 101: ‘Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee'
A very badly preserved leather book cover, held together by the wooden base beneath it. It had similar clasps to the one with the two-headed bird
A larger leather book cover, with faces in profile on the cover, and the initials MD, a monogram for Martin Doture, a bookbinder and stationer from Tudor England.
They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the pages didn't survive 437 years submerged in seawater!
Nine leather book covers were recovered from the Mary Rose, which probably belonged to officers - books were very expensive in 1545!
The mallet sitting upside down, with the cross facing the camera. the handle is broken, so seems shorter than it would have been,
The mallet on a white background, showing the cross a bit better. It's been chiselled out, the vertical line is slightly deeper.
This mallet is unusual among the ones found on the Mary Rose as it features a large cross on the side, the meaning of which is unknown. It could be a makers mark, or represent a particular task it was used for.
Let us know what you think it means...
The flat end of a gun carriage, with a number of random holes of different sizes bored into it.
We sometimes wonder if that's why this gun carriage is full of holes!
Pretty sure they're not from shipworm, as the rest of the carriage is pretty much intact.
One thing we're certain of, though, is that it's nothing to do with medicine - the Red Cross wasn't a medical symbol until 1863.
And even if it was, a blow to the head isn't a good method of putting people to sleep - unless you mean it in a permanent manner...
The mallet sitting upside down, with the cross facing the camera. the handle is broken, so seems shorter than it would have been,
The mallet on a white background, showing the cross a bit better. It's been chiselled out, the vertical line is slightly deeper.
This mallet is unusual among the ones found on the Mary Rose as it features a large cross on the side, the meaning of which is unknown. It could be a makers mark, or represent a particular task it was used for.
Let us know what you think it means...
A bread trough with a large flat stone that may have been used for grinding grain to make flour.
Saying that, we did find a stone that might have been used to grind flour, as well as three troughs used for kneading bread...
Probably not - not much call for sifting grain on a warship.
It was probably just used for storage - other basketry remains were found containing carpenters' tools.
We were getting water piped in decades ago...
A large flat rectangular wicker basket recovered from the Mary Rose, with two wicker handles on the side facing us.
One or two. Would you like a list?
We've got baskets too, this is the bigger of them.🧺
