The Mary Rose
A Tudor Warship.
Launched July 1511.
Sank July 1545, Solent,
England.
The sea closing over the wreck did not conceal the ship and
its world for ever. In 1982 the wreck
was raised and thousands of relics were reclaimed from the waters of the Solent. Each item brought to the surface was suspended in
time from that July day in 1545.
There are many many things to see in the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth.So by your leave, gentle Madam and Sir, here are some examples of the Tudor clothing on show in the museum. Hard to believe that anything could survive hundreds of years under water, but there are leather shoes, velvet caps and even fragments of woollen socks on display.
Lets start at the top.
Two coifs.
One in silk, likely for daily wear.
A velvet one,
lined in silk. Both belonged to the ships Surgeon.
An officers woollen hat, silk lined, edged with lace.
Leather jerkins.
This leather jerkin is double sided, so the pocket may be
worn inside or out. It is displayed here with a knitted hat and a knitted jerkin
in rose madder. Amazingly the original colour of rose madder is still there.The scraps of check material are the remains of a shirt.
Purse hangers. Just the metal remains.
Woollen stockings or hose.
These fragments are from the foot part of a pair of socks.
This is a knitted sock without a foot.
There were lots of shoes found. They were expensive things to own, so several pairs had been kept stowed away and not
worn whilst on board.Some sailors went
barefoot while they worked, developing hard calluses on their feet.
These have a hole in the sole. Sometimes repairs were beyond
the reach of sailors.Owning a pair of shoes was one thing. Maintaining them quite another.
An officers shoes.
Wealthy officers could afford leather boots. This is an
early example of showy possessions. Not practical to be worn when you worked on
board ship, but showed off your financial status to others.
Hunting mittens used with birds of prey?
One worn inside the
other. Sheepskin.
Aiglets abound. The brass having stood the test of time
well. There were shoes in the chest where these aiglets were found, but they did
not have lace holes, so the laces are assumed to have been used to fasten
clothes.
Wire fastening hoops, the ‘other half of the set’for the laces.
One aiglet still has the remains of a woollen lace
Belt Buckles in fine brass.
Woven silk ribbon.
Perhaps uniform trim?
Thread, thimbles and bobbins.
Needles (all rusted away as made of iron) were used to repair sails as well as clothes.
As well as the displays of Tudor clothing and shoes rescued
from the sea, there was a mannequin there wearing a modern reproduction of a
crew members outfit, complete with jerkin.
Even better were the costumed staff in the museum. These are the shoes worn by one patient sole (!) who shared with me that they were comfortable to wear and they had all been measured by having their feet drawn round.
There was a dressing up chest by the door…lots of velvets, lace and lamé, but no takers the whole time I was there.
The Star Of The Show
Even if you don’t like ships, or Tudor history or very
gloomy lighting levels (for obvs reasons), visit this museum. See the vessel,
the crew, their clothes and even the skeleton of the ships dog.
Just stand and look.
You are staring history in the face.
All pictures © Chris Dawson. Photographer and friend.
