Today in History

July 19, 1545

The Sinking of the Mary Rose

The Mary Rose was one of the largest ships in the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She had seen nearly thirty years of warfare and had recently been upfitted with a new innovation: gun ports along the side of the ship, allowing it to fire a broadside. However, the battle tactics to support the new innovation were not fully developed. Accounts indicate that, having exhausted her guns on her port side, the captain attempted to turn the ship about to fire the guns starboard. However, he left the port holes open during the maneuver and the ship took on water and sank during a battle with the French navy on July 19th, 1545 off of the Isle of Wight. The wreck of the Mary Rose was discovered in 1971 and the ship raised at great expense. The ship and its artifacts have been valuable resources in the study of the Tudor era.

You are free to use this content in your own newsletters and emails with your clients. Travel Research Online is a free service to all professional travel agents offering more than 650 destination guides, epostcards and other marketing and research tools.