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History See other History Articles Title: Mary Rose 'sank because Spanish crew did not understand orders' The Mary Rose sank because of a disastrous misunderstanding between its captain and his Spanish-speaking crew, according to new research. Forensic examination of the crew's skulls, which were found next the 16th century wreck in The Solent, has revealed that Henry VIII's flagship was mainly crewed by foreign sailors, thought to be either mercenaries or Spanish prisoners of war. Historians have always believed that the warship sank when it performed a sharp turn during a battle with the French in July 1545 and heeled so steeply that water flooded through the open gun ports. But the new theory suggests that the gun ports may only have been open because the crew spoke little English and did not understand orders to close them as the ship's commander, Admiral George Carew, took evasive action. The crew's foreign origins would also help to explain Admiral Carew's enigmatic final words, shouted to another ship, that his men were "knaves I cannot rule". The theory has been put forward by Professor Hugh Montgomery, of University College London, whose research team was given access by the Mary Rose Trust to the remains of 18 crewmen. Forensic anthropologist Lynne Bell examined their skulls to determine where they had lived, and discovered that about 60 per cent were of southern European origin. Scientists can determine roughly which region a person grew up in by analysing the chemical composition of their teeth, which retain the type of water molecule they consumed while growing up. Prof Montgomery said: "The analysis of the teeth rules out Britain and countries in northern Europe. It suggests that the men grew up in a warm climate, probably somewhere in southern Europe. "It's also known that at this time Henry VIII was short of skilled soldiers and sailors and was trying to recruit mercenaries from the Continent." He found one account in Henry VIII's state papers that could suggest where the crewmen came from. Six months before the Mary Rose sank, nine ships were caught in a storm in the English Channel and sought refuge in Falmouth harbour in Cornwall. They held 600 Spanish soldiers who – with no money or food – were pressed into service for England. "It is possible that some of these men were on the Mary Rose," said Prof Montgomery. Previous experiments based on eyewitness accounts of the sinking and using scale models of the Mary Rose revealed that the ship would have capsized if a sudden wind had sprung up at the moment it attempted to carry out a sharp turn to outmanoeuvre the French. The ship would have heeled, submerging the gun ports, which were only one metre above the waterline. Prof Montgomery said: "In the chaos of battle, with all the shouting and guns going off, it would have taken a very clear chain of command and a very disciplined, well-rehearsed crew to close the gun port lids in time." But, he said, they were anything but a cohesive naval unit because of language barriers, which was not known previously. The wreck of the ship was raised to the surface in 1982 and is now on display at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
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#1. To: X-15 (#0)
King Obama would've made everyone learn Spanish.
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