36 NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2008
Windfall for Mr & Mrs
Mary Rose Victory
BRITAIN’S oldest warship will
fi nally be given the home she honoured
deserves thanks to a £21m lottery
handout. THE commanding offi cer of
A state-of-the-art museum HMS Victory, Lt Cdr John
will be built around Henry VIII’s Scivier, and his wife Kerry have
fl agship Mary Rose which will been given the Freedom of the
allow people to walk up to her City of London in an unusual
hallowed timbers – three decades double ceremony.
after she was lifted from the The award recognises the
Solent seabed. high standing that the ship and
The ship currently sits in dry the Royal Navy have in the City
dock in the shadow of HMS of London, and because of
Victory, covered by a shed. Little John’s links with the city in his
more than 1,100 of the 19,000 previous Naval appointments.
artifacts raised with her are Lt Cdr Scivier said: “Kerry
housed several hundred yards and I were delighted to be
away in a ‘temporary’ museum invited to become Freemen of
near the historic dockyard’s the City. The fact that we were
entrance. permitted to have a double
The aim is to reunite artifacts ceremony, and that it was
with the warship in a £35m conducted by the Chamberlain
project which will be completed himself, Mr Chris Bilsland, was
in 2016. The new museum will particularly special.
be built around the ship in her “I am very conscious of the
current location and allow far fact that I am but a figurehead
more Tudor items to be displayed. for a ship and an armed service
The new galleries are due that is particularly dear to the
to open in time for the 2012 city.”
Olympics when Britain is The Freedom of the City
expecting an upsurge in tourists.
● One of the skeletons of dead sailors buried at Greenwich which is helping to shed fresh light on the Nelsonian Navy
brings with it some ancient and
Meanwhile Mary Rose will unusual privileges – including
continue to be sprayed with a the right to go about the City
wax solution – a sort of ‘wood with a drawn sword, and if
Polyfi lla’ which repairs some convicted of a capital offence,
of the damage caused by fi ve to be hung with a silken rope.
centuries beneath the Solent
From the lowliest
Lt Cdr Scivier added: “I was
– until 2011. She will spend the slightly disappointed to hear
next fi ve years drying out. After that the majority of the old
that visitors will fi nally be able privileges have been repealed
to peer at the ship face to face, so whilst I cannot drive my
rather than from behind glass sheep across London Bridge,
panels. I am now technically open to
The Heritage Lottery Fund is being press-ganged...”
providing £21m. The Mary Rose
to the loftiest
The ceremony took place in
Trust must raise £14m; to date Guildhall Art Gallery – the home
it is a quarter of the way towards of two very special Freedom
its target, but backed by such
LONG-buried skeletons are
deprived sections of British society. The examination of the skeletons was
parchments: Lord Nelson and
luminaries as TV historian Dr
shedding surprising new light on
In Georgian and Victorian England, heavy carried out by osteologists Annsofi e Witkin
Thomas Masterman Hardy.
David Starkey – he calls Mary
the men who delivered victory
drinking by their mothers during pregnancy and Ceridwen Boston of the Oxford-based
Rose “this country’s Pompeii,
and a very low quality diet during infancy, organisation Heritage Burial Services
painting the fi nest picture of
at Trafalgar and helped build the ensured that the poorest children grew up Their study also showed that other, non-
Lost heritage
the world of 16th-Century life”
British Empire.
noticeably shorter in stature. fracture, injuries were responsible for severe
– the trust’s chief executive John
New research suggests the sailors of the
Up till now, historians had thought that infections.
Lippiett is confi dent the public Nelsonian era were drawn from the bottom
the sailors who established Britain’s naval The research – funded by a UK property
of Mundy
will rally around the Tudor icon. rung of English society, writes David Keys,
supremacy came from the working class as a developer Mount Anvil – reveals that most
“Mary Rose and her unique archaoelogy correspondent of The Independent.
whole – but the new evidence reveals that a of the men had suffered soft-tissue trauma,
WHEN clearing out an
collection will be saved for the The evidence comes from a scientifi c
large proportion came from an underclass at particularly in the shoulder and elbow muscles.
old storage room at HMS
nation – in perpetuity,” he added. examination of 100 skeletons of retired
the very bottom of society. What’s more, a substantial number had suffered
Collingwood, PO Jeffrey
“We are encouraged to have 18th and 19th-Century sailors exhumed by
The study of the 100 naval skeletons also from scurvy.
Lee came across a box of
raised £3.5m already. Our archaeologists at the Royal Hospital burial
suggests a high level of inter-personal violence Nearly two thirds of the sailors had arthritis
historic objects about Chief
call now is for everyone to get ground in Greenwich.
in the 18th and 19th-Century Royal Navy. and almost a third had lung diseases. One poor
Communications Yeoman (CCY)
behind the fundraising to help us Detailed analysis of those bones has revealed
The investigation discovered a very high sailor suffered from scurvy, arthritis, bone
William Mundy.
preserve this priceless national that the sailors were shorter than most other
level of injuries consistent with boxing and infections plus 22 fractures.
PO Lee set out to find CCY
treasure forever.” 18th and 19th-Century English working-class
brawling. The picture compiled by the Oxford team
Mundy’s family, and return
men, usually between one and two centimetres Two out of fi ve sailors had broken noses adds to our existing knowledge of the era,
these items of family history, that
Anchored in
shorter. – more than three times the normal rate for the chiefl y based on naval records.
included service and campaign
On average, sailors 200 years ago were 1.68 period; three out of ten had fractured ribs, one Those papers show, for example, that in
medals from both World Wars,
metres tall (5ft 6in), but around a quarter were in fi ve had broken hand bones, and one tenth 1810, two thirds of non-disease-related naval
photographs, a goodwill letter
rail history
under 1.64 metres (5ft 4in) with a few being had fractured upper jaws. deaths were from accidents, while one in fi ve
from his CO, and a citation.
under 1.6 metres (5ft 2in). (Nelson, often Although many of these injuries were almost men died in the horrors of naval life – fi re,
These items were framed and
portrayed as a shortish chap wearing an eye certainly acquired in fi ghts, some must also shipwrecks. Just one in eight sailors killed that
presented to CCY Mundy’s son
RAIL users in Plymouth now
patch, with his arm in a sling, was about 5ft have been sustained during accidents on board year lost his life at the hands of a foe.
and grandchildren at a ceremony
have a daily reminder of the
7in tall.) ship. In the study, only one injury (a sword cut)
at Collingwood.
■ An exhibition, Medicine at Sea, will be
city’s proud shipbuilding
The sailors’ stunted growth strongly suggests can be seen as almost certainly having been held later this year at the National Maritime
Son William Mundy, aged
heritage.
that they came on the whole from the most sustained in naval combat. Museum, Greenwich
83, said: “My father and I were
One of the anchors from
very close, I can’t believe this is
HMS Scylla – the last vessel
happening.”
to roll down the slipway of the
PORTSMOUTH will stage the runs and concerts by the Royal event’s fl agship, joined by other people don’t get to know what
During his naval career, CCY
Devonport Royal Dockyard
biggest naval showcase since Marines Band. RN ships (to be announced our Navy is doing when it’s far
Mundy served in Atlantic convoys
– now sits in Plymouth’s central
Trafalgar 200 celebrations three Meet Your Navy is closer in nearer the time) and naval away at sea.”
and on the Royal Yacht.
station.
years ago as Navy Days are re- size and scope to the old Navy vessels from Denmark, Holland, Cdre Steel continued: “This
Scylla was scuttled in
invented for the 21st Century. Days (last held in Portsmouth in and possibly other countries is their chance to see the ships
Whitsand Bay as Britain’s fi rst
Upwards of 50,000 visitors 1996 and in Plymouth in 2006) including Russia and the USA. and meet the people, who Engines ’ere
artifi cial reef back in 2004 and
are expected to fl ock to the than the International Festival of The festival is organised in after all are our most important
has since become a major
Solent between July 25 and 27 the Sea, which took over almost partnership with Portsmouth asset.”
attraction among the diving
for ‘Meet Your Navy’, when up the whole of Portsmouth naval Historic Dockyard, with the aim The event will alternate for engineers
community.
to 20 warships from different base in 1998, 2001 and 2005, that visitors can link the historic between Devonport and
The ship was stripped out
countries will be on show, but whose theme was maritime ships with today’s Royal Navy. Portsmouth.
NAVAL engineering
before she was sunk, and
together with fl ying and diving rather than naval. Cdre David Steel, Naval Base For details of ticket prices
establishment HMS Sultan will
among the items removed were
displays, Organisers are keen to stress Commander, told guests at the – which will be discounted in
be awash with young engineers
her anchors.
field-gun that Meet Your Navy is not Navy offi cial launch in HMS Ark Royal: advance of the event – call
this month, when 31 teams
One has now been restored
Days, not least because the “There is not a nation on earth 0871 230 5582 or visit www.
of schoolchildren from across
by apprentices from Babcock
emphasis during the three-day which sends its ships to sea as meetyournavy.co.uk
Britain gather for Operation Wave
Marine, Devonport’s repair
event will be less on military much as the Royal Navy.
Rider.
and support organisation, and
hardware than the men and “That is what our Navy is ● Balloons are launched
The Royal Navy Challenge
installed in Plymouth’s main
women behind it, hence the for, but it does from HMS Ark Royal as
is organised each year by Young
railway station – gateway to the
event’s new title. mean that plans for Meet Your Navy
Engineers, an organisation that
Royal Navy past and present for
The aircraft carrier HMS are revealed
sets out to inspire an interest in
sailors based at Devonport or
Illustrious will be the Picture: PO(Phot) Jon Hamlet,
engineering in young people.
heading over to HMS Raleigh at HMS Ark Royal
This year the aspiring
Torpoint.
engineers are tasked to help the
In time, experts from
crew of Type 45 HMS Defender
Plymouth’s National Marine
to retrieve containers thrown
Aquarium intend to fi x TV
from a wrecked ship off the
screens to the anchor display
Pelorous Islands.
so rail travellers can experience
The competition takes place
some of the sealife swimming
on March 13 at HMS Sultan in
around Scylla’s wreck.
Gosport.
Scylla was launched in
Find out more online at www.
Devonport in August 1968 and
youngeng.org.
served under the White Ensign
for a quarter of a century before
spending her retirement in
New Clyde chief
Portsmouth Harbour – until the
reef project came along. MMeet ‘n’eet ‘n’ THERE’S a new man in charge
“We are all proud of the Naval north of the border, with the
base and Plymouth’s strong post of Flag Offi cer Scotland,
maritime heritage,” said Lord Northern England and Northern
Mayor of Plymouth Cllr David Ireland now fi lled by Rear
James. “The Scylla anchor is Admiral Philip Jones.
a message from the city to The admiral, a Falklands
visitors telling them of our links
ggrreeetet
veteran and expert in amphibious
with the Royal Navy and the warfare, takes over from Rear
sea.” Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt.
0036_NN_Mar.indd 136_NN_Mar.indd 1 118/2/08 17:14:108/2/08 17:14:10
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