Tudor Warships (1)

Building the Mary Rose

No English work on shipbuilding was published until the appearance of a collection of illustrated shipbuilder’s notes in the later 16th century, a work now known as Fragments of Ancient English Shipwrightry. With no written evidence, our best source for understanding how the warships of Henry VIII’s reign were built is the Mary Rose. The remains of this Tudor warship were raised from the waters of Portsmouth Harbour in 1982, and today these restored timbers are on display in a specially built museum. By taking a closer look at her construction, we might be able to understand a little more about how she and her sisters were built.

Like her contemporaries, the Mary Rose was built frame first (or ‘skeleton built’) – that is her keel was laid, a series of well-supported frames were attached to it that provided the shape of her hull, and then this structure was planked over using the carvel method. There is no evidence that she was ever converted from a clinker-built to a carvel-built ship. Her keel was 105ft (31.7m) long, constructed from three sections of elm joined together using scarf joints. The keel was strengthened by an oak keelson, which was also built in three sections. It appears that the majority of the frames were attached to the keel, but not to each other, or to other floor timbers – the exception being the stern transom frame. The frames themselves bulged out slightly before tapering towards the upper deck level, thus making the wale below the main gundeck the beamiest portion of the ship.

Longitudinal stringers helped hold the frames in place, and oak knees attached to the frames were used to support the internal decks of the ship. The outwards curve of the transom end of the sterncastle was supported by two horn timbers, and the whole transom frame was further supported by extra knees and braces. This method of construction is similar to that shown in the ship plans of Matthew Baker, dating from 1586, although this later manuscript described the construction of an Elizabethan race-built galleon.

The Mary Rose’s hull was also strengthened during her life, with additional horizontal and diagonal braces, transom knees and riders being added to reinforce the stringers – presumably to help support the weight of additional ordnance. The vessel underwent two major refits, one in Portsmouth in 1537–28, the other in the Thames below London in 1536. In the process her displacement increased from 500 to 700 tons. The outer oak planking of the hull and transom stern was secured directly to the frames and stringers using wooden treenails. The average hull plank was around 4in (10cm) thick, and was further reinforced by the use of iron nails. The joints between the planks were then caulked, while reinforcing timber bands (known as ribbands) protected additional caulking bands along the lower hull. The inside of the hull in the hold was also planked internally, thus forming a second skin below the waterline.

The internal and upper decks were constructed from deck planking attached to thick oaken beams, supported by knees attached to the frames. The Mary Rose was built with four deck spaces – a hold, an orlop deck, a main (or gundeck) and an upper deck. In addition, a fifth deck above the upper deck was built in the forecastle and sterncastle areas. The last three of these decks were designed to hold pieces of ordnance, and were strengthened accordingly with thicker knees and deck beams. A wale ran around the outer hull of the ship at the level of each of the three lower decks, thereby providing additional reinforcement to the structure. Like the hull planking itself, these three wales followed the sheer of the vessel, rising towards the bow and the stern. The wales also prevented the weakening of the hull by its piercing with gunports – seven ports being cut on either side of the vessel. The upper wale (at the level of the upper deck) also acted as an anchor for external fittings such as chainplates and other rigging fittings.

At the time of her sinking in 1546, the Mary Rose would have had a waterline length of 126ft (38.5m), a beam of 38ft (11.6m), a draught of 15ft (4.6m), and the height of her sterncastle above the waterline was approximately 42ft (12.8m). After construction in Portsmouth this impressive warship would have been fitted out by the addition of her masts and rigging, her internal fittings, and of course her raison d’être – the mounting of her guns.