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Bows of the
Mary Rose 1545

On 19th July 1545 the Tudor warship the Mary Rose sank during an engagement with a French fleet off Portsmouth, due not to enemy action but to a combination of overcrowding and a sudden change in wind speed and direction which caused the ship to list dramatically and her gun ports to flood with water.

As King Henry VIII watched with his army from Southsea castle the ship quickly sank to the bottom, taking with her a full compliment of several hundred crew and a similar number of soldiers.

King Henry VIII Despite immediate attempts to raise her the Mary Rose remained beneath the waves for almost 440 years before she was raised in 1982.  Among the many artefacts recovered from the wreck were 138 complete longbows, many in pristine condition.

With virtually no medieval longbows surviving to the present day this discovery was like finding the Holy Grail to all modern day longbowmen and naturally we had to see them for ourselves. 

And so, with grateful thanks to Andy Elkerton of The Mary Rose Trust, we enjoyed special access to the bows to judge for ourselves whether they were indeed finished bows, and whether or not the reports of their massive draw weights could be believed.  Our conclusion?  A resounding yes on both counts!

John poses (when doesn't he?) before a collection of arrows and leather bracers. Another nice example of a Bowyer's mark. Some of these bows were found packed in bow chests while others were scattered within the wreck. Martin tries out the bent bow for size. A stamped leather arm bracer. Arrow shafts showing very clear signs of fletching wipping. Graham examines a superb example of the Bowyer following the grain of a very knotty Yew stave. Martin getting a closer look at a nice selection of Yew bows. Nick trying bow MR1607 out for size. A bow with Bowyer's mark. All the bows displayed coned tips with signs of their tillering string grooves, and shadows of long-since eroded horn nocks. The dark bow was less protected by silt or chest, showing signs of oyster-spat. The rest of the recovered bows in the humidity-controlled stores. 138 complete longbows were recovered, all of them of Yew. Bow draw weights were calculated as ranging from 100lbs up to 180lbs. Andy Elkerton of The Mary Rose Trust talks us through the finds. Martin examines bow MR1607. A very fine arrow horn nock. A cross section cut through a bow recovered broken, showing very close growth rings and clearly defined heartwood and sapwood. The bow lengths measured from just over 6 ft (1.82m) to just under 7 ft (2.12m). Was this bow's shape a result of being strung at the time of the sinking, or merely by being bent against something in the wreckage?

Please help support the Trust in their vital work to preserve these finds and build a new, world-class museum for the ship.  For more information just click on their logo above.

 

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