A chart used by pioneering divers to locate and dive the Solent's Mary Rose wreck has been presented to the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth.

John Lippiett (left) receives the original survey chart from John Towse, surrounded by other project divers. Photo: Christopher Dobbs, Mary Rose Trust

Original dive team member John Towse presented the chart to John Lippiett, Chief Executive of the Mary Rose Trust, in mid-May at the Mary Rose complex in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard, which houses the ship's remains and thousands of artefacts raised from the wreck site.

The presentation marked the 40th anniversary of the first dives carried out in search of the ship, which capsized in a squall in 1545. The pride of Henry VIII's naval fleet may have been raised in 1982 - but the acorn of the recovery project was sown in 1966, when Towse and the late Alexander McKee located a rather special 1841 Admiralty chart in London's Hydrographic Office.

The chart showed the last known resting place of the great warship, which Towse promptly transferred to a new version of the Admiralty's Approaches to Portsmouth chart. This was used for the first exploration dives in search of the wreck.

The campaign required another four years of painstaking labour before the existence of ship remains could be confirmed - and even longer before the wooden structures could be identified as those of the Mary Rose.

The chart is certain to join other displayed artefacts connected with the Mary Rose recovery project. A new, permanent museum for the ship and its contents is planned for completion at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard by 2011.

Related links
New Mary Rose museum gets green light
Mary Rose Trust website


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