How a sixteenth-century warship was recovered from the seabed

一艘16世纪的战舰是如何从海底被打捞的

On 19 July 1545, English and French fleets were engaged in 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 vessels was a warship by the name of Mary Rose. Built in Portsmouth some 35 years earlier, she had had a long and successful fighting career, and was a favourite of King Henry VIII. Accounts of what happened to the ship vary: while witnesses agree that she was not hit by the French, some maintain that she was outdated, overladen and sailing too low in the water, others that she was mishandled by undisciplined crew. What is undisputed, 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 recover the ship, but these failed.

索伦特水域地处英国南部海岸，位于朴茨茅斯和怀特岛之间，1545年7月19日，英国与法国舰队在这里展开了一场海战。英国舰队中的一艘战舰名为玛丽玫瑰号。战舰于35年前在朴茨茅斯建造，她拥有长久而胜利的战斗历程，并且是国王亨利八世最喜爱的战舰。关于战舰上发生的事情说法各异：目击者认为战舰并非被法国人击中，有些人认为她过于老化，载重过多，并且在水中航行过低，另一些人认为战舰被不守纪律的船员进行了不当操作。然而无可争议的是，玛丽玫瑰号在那一天沉入索伦特海峡，船上至少有500人。战后人们试图找到这艘船，但均未成功。

玛丽玫瑰号靠在海底，以大约60度的角度倒向其右舷一侧。索伦特洋流带来的沙土和淤泥进入船体。因此，右舷一侧很快被填满，留下左侧经受海洋生物和机械降解的侵蚀。由于船只沉没的方式，右舷一侧几乎完整地保留了下来。在17和18世纪，整片区域被一层坚硬的灰色粘土覆盖，这使进一步的侵蚀降到最低。

The Mary Rose came to rest on the seabed, lying on her starboard (right) side at an angle of approximately 60 degrees. The hull (the body of the ship) acted as a trap for the sand and mud carried by Solent currents. As a result, the starboard side filled rapidly, leaving the exposed port (left) side to be eroded by marine organisms and mechanical degradation. Because of the way the ship sank, nearly all of the starboard half survived intact. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the entire site became covered with a layer of hard grey clay, which minimised further erosion.

其后，在1836年6月16日，索伦特海湾的一些渔民发现他们的设备被海底的某个障碍物卡住，而这正是玛丽玫瑰号。潜水员John Deane恰好正在探索附近的另一艘沉没船只，渔民靠近他，请他帮助松开齿轮。Deane下潜后发现设备被海底一个木制的轻微突出物体卡住。继续探査后，他发现了更多的木料以及一把铜制枪支。Deane断断续续地继续潜入这个地点直至1840年，他发现了更多的枪支、两把弓、各种各样的木制品、一只水泵的部件，以及各种各样的其他零碎物品。

玛丽玫瑰号随后又销声匿迹几百年。但是在1965年，军事史学家、业余潜水员Alexander McKee和英国潜水俱乐部，联合发起了一项名为“索伦特海峡的船只”的项目。在名义上这是一项研究很多索伦特海峡已知沉船的计划，而McKee真正希望的是找到玛丽玫瑰号。常规的搜索技术被证明无法令人满意，因此McKee开始同麻省理工学院的电子工程学教授Harold E. Edgerton合作。1967年，Edgerton的侧向扫描声纳系统展示出一个巨大的、形态独特的物体，McKee相信这就是玛丽玫瑰号。

Then, on 16 June 1836, some fishermen in the Solent found that their equipment was caught on an underwater obstruction, which turned out to be the Mary Rose. Diver John Deane happened to be exploring another sunken ship nearby, and the fishermen approached him, asking him to free their gear. Deane dived down, and found the equipment caught on a timber protruding slightly from the seabed. Exploring further, he uncovered several other timbers and a bronze gun. Deane continued diving on the site intermittently until 1840, recovering several more guns, two bows, various timbers, part of a pump and various other small finds.

进一步的发掘工作找到了散落的木头碎片以及一把铜制枪支。但是这个项目的高潮在1971年5月5日来到，船只结构框架的一部分被找到。McKee及其团队确信他们找到了沉船，但尚未意识到其中还有保存完好的精美工艺品宝藏。公众对这个项目的兴趣在増加，1979年，玛丽玫瑰号信托基金成立，Charles王子担任主席，Margaret Rule博士担任考古负责人。尽管1978年的发掘工作已经显示可能能够打捞起整个船体，而做出是否打捞船只的决定却并非易事。尽管最初的目标是在一切可行的情况下打捞起整个船体，但这一操作直1982年1月所有需要的信息都完备的时候才被允许执行。

试图打捞起玛丽玫瑰号要考虑的一个重要因素在于残留的船体是一个打开的外壳。这导致了一项重要的決定：即在三个非常重要的阶段进行起重操作。船体通过一系列螺栓和起吊索贴紧起吊架。通过使用12台液压起重机解决了船体被向下吸回到泥土中的问题。随着起吊架緩慢地升起它的四个支脚，船体在几天的时间里升起了几厘米。只有当船体完全悬挂在起吊架上，不受海底和周围泥土的吸力影响时，救援作业才进入到了第二个阶段。在这一阶段，起吊架被固定在一个绑在起重机上的挂钩上，船体被升起，完全脱离海底并在水下被转移至升降篮中。这要求精准的定位来将支脚固定在升降篮的“对扣引导”上。使用考古勘测绘图来设计升降篮与船体匹配，并且匹配气囊来为船体脆弱的木质框架提供额外的缓冲。第三个也是最后一个阶段是将整个船体升起到空中，同时船体从下方得到支撑。最终，在1982年10月11日，全世界数百万人屏吸见证玛丽玫瑰号的木质骨架升离水面，等待回到朴茨茅斯。

The Mary Rose then faded into obscurity for another hundred years. But in 1965, military historian and amateur diver Alexander McKee, in conjunction with the British Sub-Aqua Club, initiated a project called 'Solent Ships'. While on paper this was a plan to examine a number of known wrecks in the Solent, what McKee really hoped for was to find the Mary Rose. Ordinary search techniques proved unsatisfactory, so McKee entered into collaboration with Harold E. Edgerton, professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1967, Edgerton's side-scan sonar systems revealed a large, unusually shaped object, which McKee believed was the Mary Rose.

Further excavations revealed stray pieces of timber and an iron gun. But the climax to the operation came when, on 5 May 1971, part of the ship's frame was uncovered. McKee and his team now knew for certain that they had found the wreck, but were as yet unaware that it also housed a treasure trove of beautifully preserved artefacts. 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 Director. The decision whether or not to salvage 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 aim was to raise the hull if at all feasible, the operation was not given the go-ahead 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 shell. This led to an important decision being taken: namely to carry out the lifting operation in three very distinct stages. The hull was attached to a lifting frame via a network of bolts and lifting wires. The problem of the hull being sucked back downwards into the mud was overcome by using 12 hydraulic jacks. 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 effect of the surrounding mud, that the salvage operation progressed to the second stage. In this stage, the lifting frame was fixed to a hook attached to a crane, and the hull was lifted completely clear of the seabed and transferred underwater into the lifting cradle. This required precise positioning to locate the legs into the 'stabbing guides' of the lifting cradle. The lifting cradle was designed to fit the hull using archaeological survey drawings, and was fitted with air bags to provide additional cushioning for the hull's delicate timber framework. 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 breath as the timber skeleton of the Mary Rose was lifted clear of the water, ready to be returned home to Portsmouth.