With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Revealed: the man who may have sunk the Mary Rose

Eyes bleared from gunsmoke and salt spray, the face of the man who may have sunk the Mary Rose has been revealed, more than 400 years after he went to the bottom of the Solent in the wreck of Henry VIII's flagship.

The head has been modelled by the internationally renowned forensic artist Richard Neave from a skull recovered from the wreck. Only a handful of the more than 400 crew and soldiers survived when the ship sank so fast and so close to shore that helpless watchers on the cliffs heard the screams of the drowning men. For the first time, the face of one of the victims can be seen.

The remains of more than 170 individuals have been recovered, but few can be identified as specific members of the crew. This man was found with the emblem of his comparatively senior status, his bosun's call - a whistle - proving he was the man who may have been at least partly responsible for the disaster. The public will see him next month, in an exhibition at the Whitgift centre in Croydon, the first time objects from the wreck, normally stored at the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth, have been displayed.

Read entire article at Guardian (UK)