Only one pomander was recovered from the Mary Rose; this boxwood example recovered from the main deck. It was attached via a plaited silk cord to a leather scabbard and is believed to have been owned by one of the archers.
The carrying of pomanders was a common practice in medieval and Tudor times to combat noxious smells. Made of wood, with several perforations and decoratively carved, the pomander was hollow and would have been filled with dried herbs, flowers or spices which would produce a sweet scent which could be inhaled when the pomander was raised close to the nose. While it may have been simply to cover the smell of the ship (which, considering that recently there had been an outbreak of dysentery, would have been pretty bad), it could also have been an attempt to protect the owner from disease, which was thought to be spread by bad smells.