July 19, 1545, Henry VIII’s pride, the carrack Mary Rose was sunk during the Battle of the Solent.
Mary Rose sank in a strait of the English Channel.

“Towards evening, through misfortune and carelessness, the ship of Vice Admiral George Carew foundered, and all hands on board, to the number of about 500, were drowned, with the exception of five and twenty or thirty servants, sailors and the like, who escaped . I made enquiries of one of the survivors, a Fleming, how the ship perished, and he told me that the disaster was caused by their not having closed the lowest row of gunports on one side of the ship.  Having fired the guns on that side, she was turning in order to fire from her other, when the wind caught her sails so strongly as to heel her over, and plunged her open gunports beneath the water, which floored and sank her.  They say however that they can recover the ship and guns”. The life of the Mary Rose – The Mary Rose

Mary Rose
From the The Age of the Tudors series
Issued by Royal Mail in 2009
Designer: Atelier Works

It’s often claimed the ship sunk on its maiden voyage, but the Rose served for 34 years before meeting it’s watery fate. Construction of the Mary Rose (and a second ship Peter Pomegranate) took place between 1509-1511. It was built at the Portsmouth harbour, where the Mary Rose is now housed in a purpose built museum.  

Raising the Mary Rose – The Mary Rose