Raising the Mary Rose

On 19 July 1545, English and French fleetsn: hạm đội were engaged inphr: tham gia vào a sea battle off the coast of southern England in the area of water called the Solent, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Among the English vesselsn: tàu thuyền was a warshipn: tàu chiến by the name of Mary Rose. Built in Portsmouth some 35 years earlier, she had a long and successful fighting career, and was a favourite of King Henry VIII. Accountsn: các lời kể, tường thuật of what happened to the ship varyv: khác nhau: while witnessesn: nhân chứng agree that she was not hit by the French, some maintainv: khẳng định that she was outdatedadj: lỗi thời, overladenadj: quá tải and sailing too low in the water, others that she was mishandledv: điều khiển sai by undisciplinedadj: thiếu kỷ luật crew. What is undisputedadj: không thể tranh cãi, however, is that the Mary Rose sank into the Solent that day, taking at least 500 men with her. After the battle, attempts were made to recoverv: trục vớt the ship, but these failed.

The Mary Rose came to restphr: nằm yên on the seabedn: đáy biển, lying on her starboardn: mạn phải (right) side at an angle of approximately 60 degrees. The hulln: thân tàu (the body of the ship) acted as a trap for the sand and mud carried by Solent currentsn: dòng chảy. As a resultphr: kết quả là, the starboard side filled rapidly, leaving the exposed portn: mạn trái (left) side to be erodedv: bị bào mòn by marine organismsn: sinh vật biển and mechanical degradationn: sự suy thoái cơ học. Because of the way the ship sank, nearly all of the starboard half survived intactadj: nguyên vẹn. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the entire site became covered with a layer of hard grey clayn: đất sét, which minimisedv: giảm thiểu further erosionn: sự xói mòn.

Then, on 16 June 1836, some fishermen in the Solent found that their equipment was caught on an underwater obstructionn: vật cản dưới nước, which turned out to bephr: hóa ra là the Mary Rose. Diver John Deane happened to be exploring another sunken shipn: tàu đắm nearby, and the fishermen approached him, asking him to free their gear. Deane dived down and found the equipment caught on a timbern: gỗ, thanh gỗ protrudingv: nhô ra slightly from the seabed. Exploring further, he uncovered several other timbers and a bronze gunn: súng đồng. Deane continued diving on the site intermittentlyadv: không liên tục until 1840, recovering several more guns, two bowsn: cung, various timbers, part of a pumpn: máy bơm, and various other small finds.

The Mary Rose then faded into obscurityphr: chìm vào quên lãng for another hundred years. But in 1965, military historiann: nhà sử học quân sự and amateur divern: thợ lặn nghiệp dư Alexander McKee, in conjunction withphr: kết hợp với the British Sub-Aqua Club, initiatedv: khởi xướng a project called "Solent Ships". While on paperphr: trên giấy tờ this was a plan to examine a number of known wrecksn: xác tàu đắm in the Solent, what McKee really hoped for was to find the Mary Rose. Ordinary search techniquesn: kỹ thuật tìm kiếm proved unsatisfactoryadj: không thỏa đáng, so McKee entered into collaborationphr: bắt đầu hợp tác with Harold E. Edgerton, professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1967, Edgerton's side-scan sonarn: sonar quét sườn systems revealed a large, unusually shaped object, which McKee believed was the Mary Rose.

Further excavationsn: cuộc khai quật revealed strayadj: rải rác pieces of timber and an iron gun. But the climaxn: cao trào to the operation came when, on 5 May 1971, part of the ship's framen: khung tàu was uncovered. McKee and his team now knew for certainphr: chắc chắn that they had found the wreck, but were as yet unawarephr: chưa biết that it also housed a treasure troven: kho báu of beautifully preservedadj: được bảo quản artefactsn: hiện vật. Interest in the project grew, and in 1979, The Mary Rose Trust was formed, with Prince Charles as its President and Dr Margaret Rule its Archaeological Directorn: Giám đốc Khảo cổ. The decision whether or not to salvagev: cứu vớt, trục vớt the wreck was not an easy one, although an excavation in 1978 had shown that it might be possible to raise the hull. While the original aimn: mục tiêu ban đầu was to raise the hull if at all feasiblephr: nếu có thể khả thi, the operation was not given the go-aheadphr: được phê duyệt until January 1982, when all the necessary information was available.

An important factor in trying to salvage the Mary Rose was that the remaining hull was an open shelln: vỏ hở. This led to an important decision being taken: namely to carry outphr: thực hiện the lifting operationn: hoạt động nâng in three very distinctadj: riêng biệt stages. The hull was attached to a lifting framen: khung nâng via a network of boltsn: bu lông and lifting wiresn: dây cáp nâng. The problem of the hull being sucked back downwards into the mud was overcome by using 12 hydraulic jacksn: kích thủy lực. These raised it a few centimetres over a period of several days, as the lifting frame rose slowly up its four legs. It was only when the hull was hanging freely from the lifting frame, clear of the seabed and the suction effectn: hiệu ứng hút of the surrounding mud, that the salvage operationn: hoạt động trục vớt progressed tophr: tiến sang the second stage.

In this stage, the lifting frame was fixed to a hook attached to a cranen: cần cẩu, and the hull was lifted completely clear of the seabed and transferred underwater into the lifting cradlen: nôi nâng. This required precise positioningn: định vị chính xác to locate the legs into the stabbing guidesn: thanh dẫn hướng of the lifting cradle. The lifting cradle was designed to fit the hull using archaeological survey drawingsn: bản vẽ khảo sát khảo cổ, and was fitted with air bagsn: túi khí to provide additional cushioningn: đệm giảm chấn for the hull's delicate timber frameworkn: khung gỗ mỏng manh. The third and final stage was to lift the entire structure into the air, by which time the hull was also supported from below. Finally, on 11 October 1982, millions of people around the world held their breathphr: nín thở as the timber skeletonn: bộ khung gỗ of the Mary Rose was lifted clear of the water, ready to be returned home to Portsmouth.