One of the most complex operations in the history of maritime archaeology was the raising of Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, from the seabed of the Solent in 1982. The Mary Rose sank on 19th July 1545 while leading the attack against a huge French invasion fleet, much larger than that of the Spanish Armada forty-three years later. The French were attempting to capture Portsmouth and from there, to invade England.
Henry VIII had split from the Catholic Church in 1534. The Pope, furious, demanded that the Catholic monarchs Francis I of France and Charles V of Spain (nephew of Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s first wife) invade and remove Henry from power. However in 1544 Henry VIII allied with Charles and declared war on France. Having captured Boulogne, Charles then betrayed Henry by negotiating a truce with Francis. On 3rd January 1545 Francis announced his intention to invade England, ’to liberate the English from the Protestant tyranny that Henry VIII had imposed on them’. Francis was taking advantage of the fact that the English armies were otherwise occupied in Ireland, France and Scotland. His target was Portsmouth, Henry’s naval base.
In May 1545, the French assembled a large fleet in the estuary of the River Seine and on 16th July the huge French force under the command of Admiral Claude d’Annebault set sail for England. Expecting the invasion, King Henry and his Privy Council came to Portsmouth.
