“We're a very important part of a ship like the Mary Rose, without us she'd not be able to fight!”
“I am the Master Carpenter, I am a very important man on the Mary Rose.
My job is to maintain the ship, making sure the decks are waterproof, repairing broken rigging blocks, and perhaps plugging holes made by cannon balls during battle.”
“I’m the pilot on the Mary Rose and I have a very important job.
I have to know where the ship is and how to plot a course to get her to port. If I make a mistake, the ship might run aground.”
“Welcome to a world of pain, disease, medicine and haircuts, the world of the Tudor surgeon!
I have a very important job on-board the Mary Rose – healing wounds, making medicines, doing operations, pulling teeth and making sure the crew are fighting fit.”
“Some people might think that it’s an easy life being a cook. It’s not! I have to feed 415 men every day.
I work in a hot, smelly galley, deep in the hold of the ship. I’m going to show you where I work, and tell you about what the crew eat and drink.We’ll also look at how the crew ate and how the food was stored on the ship.”
“Meet the Crew” is a place where children of all ages can come and find out about life on-board the Mary Rose. It’s ideal for school projects, homework, or just finding out out more about Henry VIII’s favourite warship!
“Meet the Crew” is a replacement for our old “Learning City” pages for children which, although informative, had dated badly.
In 2016 the Mary Rose Museum managed to obtain a grant from the South East Museums Development Programme, which allowed Will Cullen, a member of our front-of-house team to work on updating our website, and ‘Learning City’ was the ideal place to start.
While much of the information is the same, it has been trimmed of unnecessary details, which although were of interest to our older visitors, were unlikely to be of much help in the classroom. It’s also been made easier to navigate, and all the images have been updated for a modern, broadband audience.
While the majority of material on this site is purpose written, it is based mainly on internal & external publications produced by the Mary Rose Trust and the Mary Rose Society.
Thanks are due to Maggie Richards, Alex Hildred, Ian Friel, Peter Whitlock and Andy Elkerton.
Site design, authoring, editing and management was by Stuart Vine.
The Learning City Project was devised and initiated by Richard Dunne and Tony Byrne. It is a collaborative project between Portsmouth LEA, the Mary Rose Trust, nine local schools and the School of Architecture at Portsmouth University.
The project was jointly funded by KONVER and Portsmouth LEA.
So, in no particular order, thanks for advice, help, support and ideas, are due to:
Jenny Driver – Copnor Junior; Debs Smith – Northern Parade Junior; Jonathan Ackerman – Court Lane Junior; Phillip Duncan – Cliffdale Primary; Tony Stubbs – Isambard Brunel Junior; Richard Adams – Solent Junior; Garry Nicholson – Stamshaw Junior; Lee Wallington – St Georges Beneficial Primary; Peter Richardson & Annette Rogers – Craneswater Junior; Chris Watts – Northern Parade Junior; Rick Barnes – Portsmouth LEA; Neal Thomson – Hampshire LEA; Sue Wright – Flagship Portsmouth; Dr Kevin McCartney – Portsmouth University; Martyn Heighton – The Mary Rose Trust; Chris Dobbs – The Mary Rose Trust
Updated 2016 by Will Cullen and Simon M. Clabby, with assistance from Mary Kinoulty, Clare Barnes and Charlie Chamberlain