The first of eight programmes The Wreck of the Mary Rose
It was a hot day in July 1545. As Henry VIII 's great battleship, the Mary Rose , set sail with the rest of the English fleet, she fired her first broadside, heeled violently to starboard, capsized and sank. All efforts to raise the hull failed. The glutinous mud at the bottom of the Solent held her down, covered her up and, in the end, preserved her. But for more than 400 years the site of the wreck was forgotten and the Mary Rose was believed lost.
Now, in 1980, prior to raising the hull in 1982, the Mary Rose Trust are conducting the largest exercise in underwater archaeology that Great Britain has ever seen.
Chronicle cameras were with the divers when the site was first yielding its secrets, ten years ago. Now Chronicle brings you the story of the ship, the men who went down with her and an up-to-date report on the people who are excavating the site.
Narrated by ANDREW FAULDS
Film editor ROY DEVERELL Written and produced by JOHN SELWYN GILBERT
Series editor BRUCE NORMAN