The New Mary Rose Museum Press Pack 2014 Contents page: 1. Supporter Quotes 2. The New Mary Rose Museum – First year facts and figures 3. The Mary Rose timeline 4. The Mary Rose Did You Know…. 5. The 16th century in 16 objects from The Mary Rose 6. Discoveries that made or rewrote history 7. Science and conservation discoveries 8. Meet the Mary Rose crew members 9. Conservation of the Mary Rose 10. Spokespeople at the Mary Rose Museum 11. Images of the Mary Rose Museum 12. Hospitality and Events at the Mary Rose Museum 13. Online Shop 14. About Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Supporter Quotes: Dr David Starkey: "The Mary Rose is the English Pompeii, preserved by water, not fire. All Tudor life is there; it is like stepping inside a Holbein painting." David Dimbleby: “The Mary Rose is far more than the museum of a ship, magnificent though this ship was. It is a brilliantly preserved snapshot of life in Tudor Times in all its aspects, recovered from the sea bed. Here are Tudor nit combs (complete with dead nits) long bows, leather shoes, and cutlery. With its neighbours HMS Victory and HMS Warrior it also gives an insight into how naval warfare developed over nearly four centuries to protect our islands.” John Bly: “The Mary Rose Museum is the closest thing to time-travel I have ever experienced. Tudor life surrounds you and welcomes you in. The display of these unique historical artefacts is so thoughtfully organised as to be captivating, informative and enjoyable for every age group, whether novice or knowledgeable.” Sandy Toksvig: “The new Mary Rose museum is one of the most exciting history projects ever to open in the UK. It is so wonderful to see the crew of that fated ship honoured in such a wonderful way. As you walk the length of the ship you don't just see what life was like for a Tudor seaman, you feel as though you are experiencing it as well. At last the men of the Mary Rose can stand tall and tell us their story. It is a privilege to hear it.” The New Mary Rose Museum – First year facts and figures Visitor records: Portsmouth Historic Dockyard will see over 720,000 visitors for 2013-14 The Mary Rose Museum originally projected to bring an additional 75,000 people to the site when they did the original Heritage Lottery Fund bid Since opening at the end of May 2013, the current visitor attendance is 450,000. 8th October 2013 – Mary Rose hit 250,000 visitor mark The Mary Rose Museum achieved 100,000 visitors on the 27th July 2013. The 30th of May 2013 saw an opening fit for Henry VIII himself - and the world was watching; Our international coverage reached 904 million people globally, and included features from CNN and NBC in America, Central China News, Deutschland Radio, Channel One Russia and Japan’s Chunichi Shimbun. 15,000 school children have attended the learning centre from 2013. Award records: Awards Won UK Top Tourism Project 2013 - British Guild of Travel Writers Image Winner for the greatest contribution to improving Portsmouth’s image - Shaping the future of Portsmouth Silver award for the Best Educational Product - British Youth Travel Awards Large Visitor Attraction gold medal winner for the Portsmouth Historical Dockyard - The Beautiful South Awards for Excellence 2013 – 2014 Civic Trust Award winner 2014 Michael Middleton Special Award winner 2014 Lighting Design Awards (DHA) for best public building Building Magazine Project of the Year RICS South East Awards: Design Through Innovation (1 May 2014) RICS South East Awards: Tourism and Leisure (1 May 2014) RIBA South East (8 May) Museums + Heritage 2x Awards (Permanent Exhibition & Conservation Project) (14 May) Award Shortlists Shortlisted for Art Fund Prize - Museum of the Year Award 2014 (9 July) Shortlisted for Construction News Awards 2014 (17 July) Timber Research & Development Association -Wood Award ICE South East England Engineering Excellence Awards (Bouygues UK) Online records: Website - The 29th of May saw an increase to 1,770 from 977 the day before, increasing to 14,738 on the day of the launch. This may have been higher but our website exceeded its bandwidth, causing issues. There was a slow decrease in the stats, 4,684 on the 31st, then a jump over the weekend, 6,331 and 6,495, before returning to between 4,000-2,000. Since then, it's rarely been less than 1,000 a day. On Facebook The daily reach increased from 6,047 on the 29th to 36,742 on the Launch Day, 20,234 on the opening day, then fluctuating from 8,899 to 11,575, 7,318 to 1,249. The day of the launch saw a gain of 350 fans, with another 232 over the next seven days. Total figures include: 5,259. Twitter – Current twitter following includes 6,538. The Mary Rose timeline 1509. The Mary Rose is ordered by the newly crowned King Henry VIII. 1510. Construction began in Portsmouth. The Mary Rose was built almost on the exact same location where she now rests. She was one of the first ships in England to be carvel, rather than, clinker built. Her construction would have required around 600 large Oak trees - about 16 hectares (40 acres) of woodland. It is likely her rigging and masts were fitted out in London. 1511. The Mary Rose is launched. Her first voyage is to London for final fitting out. 1512-1514. The Mary Rose – flagship of King Henry VIII’s fleet - fights her first battle leading an attack on a French fleet. Her captain called her ‘The noblest ship of sail’. 1520. The Mary Rose formed part of Henry's escort when he crossed the English Channel to meet the French King, Francis I. This meeting, just outside of Calais at what was known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, was aimed at bringing a lasting peace. But, such diplomatic efforts were short-lived. Just two years later the countries were again at war. 1522. 30 June, the Mary Rose led the English fleet towards France and three days later they captured the French port of Morlaix. 1524. The Mary Rose was moored in Portsmouth Harbour along with ten other warships, ready for action as required. 1526/27. Preparations are made in 1526 for the Mary Rose’s refit when the King purchased 9 acres of land to dig out a new dock and to build storehouses. Her refit takes place in the summer of 1527. 1536. The Mary Rose undergoes a further refit which may have included reinforcing. This was at the same period that Henry VIII was dissolving the monasteries, which brought him much-needed revenue that may have helped fund this work. 1545. 19 July, the Battle of the Solent. The Mary Rose, under the command of Sir George Carew, sinks during the afternoon while leading the attack on the French invasion fleet. King Henry VIII, along with the wife of Sir George Carew watches the battle from Southsea Castle. The screams of the drowning sailors can be heard on land and the loss of the Mary Rose deeply affects the King and the country. 1545-1549. Following her sinking, expert Venetian salvors attempt to raise the wreck. Although unsuccessful, they do recover sails, parts of the masts and the rigging. Some of her guns are raised in further salvage work through to 1549, but the ship then lays undisturbed for almost 300 years. 1836. Early pioneering divers, John and Charles Deane, rediscover the wreck site and raise items including a number of guns using explosives. The Mary Rose is then lost again for over 100 years. 1965. The search for the Mary Rose begins, led by the late British military historian and amateur diver Alexander McKee. 1967. Sonar investigations locate a large anomaly beneath the seabed and the Mary Rose (1967) Committee was formed. 1970. Iron gun similar to those recovered by John Deane found 1971. Diver Percy Ackland sees the first exposed timbers and the site is identified as the ‘Mary Rose’. 1974. The Mary Rose was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act. 1979 The Mary Rose Trust was formed with the remit "to find, excavate, raise and preserve for all time such remains of the ship Mary Rose as may be of historical or archaeological interest" 1979-1982 Maritime Archaeologist Margaret Rule leads the project to excavate the ships’ content. In total over 19,000 artefacts were brought ashore and almost 28,000 dives were carried out in what is known as the world’s largest underwater excavation. It is estimated over 60 million people worldwide watch the wreck being raised live on television. The hull was subsequently towed into the same dry dock where she now rests. The hull starts being sprayed continually with recycled, fresh water at a temperature of less than 5oC to stop the wood drying out and to inhibit bacterial activity. 1985. The hull is turned upright and a series of Titanium props are installed to support the internal structure. This enables the archaeologists to begin to replace some of over 3,000 timbers which have been recovered underwater. The longest was a plank seven metres long, while the largest single element was the rudder which weighed 750 kilograms. 1994-2013. On 30 September 1994 active conservation work commences on the hull of the ship, which is sprayed with Polyethlene Glycol (PEG) a water-soluble wax. This is a two stage process allowing the wax to penetrate deep into the core of the wood and then to seal the surface of the wood.