Oldest Seadog found with her Ship

Chamari SENANAYAKE

Living up to the name ‘man’s best friend’ and in the finest tradition of seafaring, this old sea dog went down with her ship. Then, this ‘working dog’ that lost her life during her work, stayed on the seabed, for the next four and half Centuries.

The unfortunate hound was on board Henry VIII’s flagship ‘Mary Rose’ when the ill-fated warship sank to the bottom of the Solent on July 19, 1545. Mary Rose was undoubtedly the favourite ship of the famous King.

The dog, now preserved as an almost complete canine skeleton, acquired the nickname ‘Hatch’ after divers discovered her remains near the sliding hatch door of the Mary Rose’s carpenter’s cabin. They believe she may have got trapped behind the sliding door when the ship sank. Experts say the hound, estimated to have been between 18 months and two years old, earned her keep as the ship’s ratter as superstitious Tudor seafarers did not have cats on board ship as they were thought to bring bad luck. Her job was to catch rats and keep loving company to the sailers. She was probably very good at her job, only the partial remains of rats’ skeletons have been found on board the ‘Mary Rose’.

Surprisngly, after being under water for four and a half Centuries, Hatch’s skeleton is well preserved; it is 99 percent complete with a just a few teeth and a few paw bones missing. Mary Rose has a reputation for being remarkably preserved despite the time it has been under water, as the ship was found almost intact with many personal belongings of the sailors and even, the rat skeletons.

Mary Rose was the ‘Titanic’ of her time, working 34 years at sea and three wars; it had been regarded by many as invincible. Then, while defending England from a French invasion force, she sank taking with her 500 men and a treasure trove of Tudor history with her to the seafloor. Only about 20-30 men of the crew is believed to have survived.

Now Hatch is about to go on display in an arena which is all about canine perfection, Crufts, at Birmingham, as a special guest of the Kennel Club.

John Lippiett, chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust and Hatch’s ‘guardian’, said: ‘We are delighted to bring Hatch, the world’s oldest lost sea dog, to the world’s premier dog show, so that visitors can meet an ancestor of their much loved pets. After analysing Hatch’s bones experts say that she spent most of her short life within the close confines of the ship. ‘It is likely that the longest walks she took were along the quayside at Portsmouth, her home town.’ Experts from the Natural History Museum, in London, examined the bones and were able to establish from the size, shape and composition that Hatch did not receive much exercise.

The reconstructed skeleton of the Mary Rose’s dog will be on display at DFS Crufts, along with a selection of Tudor artefacts, including an original stone cannon ball and piece of ship’s rope as well as an array of replicas, including some of the carpenter’s tools.

The Mary Rose was brought back to the surface in 1982, and is on her way to be the main attraction of a £35million museum project. Scheduled for completion in time for the London Olympics in 2012, the museum will reunite the great ship with her treasures in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in England.

There are several versions of what happened on July 19,1545, the day that invincible Mary Rose sank. According to the French, at dawn their galleys took up the battle and the flat calm allowed them to pound the English ships with relative impunity. Suddenly, much to their delight the Mary Rose heeled over and sank. On the other hand, The Imperial ambassador, Van der Delft, says the French fleet appeared while the king was at dinner on the flagship. Henry went ashore and the English fleet was engaged by five galleys. He records that the Mary Rose sank towards evening, drowning almost all the 500 men aboard save about 25 or 30. Interestingly, he received a survivor’s account. Sir Peter Carew, brother of Sir George Carew, the newly appointed Vice Admiral in the Mary Rose, gave his biographer, John Hooker, another eyewitness account, “this gentleman...had in his ship a hundred mariners, the worst of them being able to be a master in the best ship in the realm; and these so maligned and disdained one another, that refusing to do that which they should do, were careless to do that which was most needful and necessary and so contending in envy, perished in forwardness”.

Most of the experts attributed her loss to the gun ports being too close to the water line, but the most likely reason for the loss of the Mary Rose is a simple handling error in the heat of the skirmish with the galleys. Any such problem may have been compounded by confusion or a lack of discipline among the crew. Later on, the excavation of the ship also revealed that the ballast had shifted to the starboard side, although whether this was a cause or as a result of the ship sinking is uncertain. Once the angle of heel was sufficient for water to enter the gun ports the fate of the ship was sealed.

The Mary Rose was not only a purpose built warship, for much of her active career, also acted as flagship or vice-flagship of the fleet. As well as the crew that could normally be found on a Tudor warship of her size, she also carried either the “Lord High Admiral” or a vice-admiral. The post of Lord High Admiral was granted to a senior member of the aristocracy, while a minor aristocracy generally filled the post of vice-admiral. The crew of the ship consisted of mariners, soldiers and gunners. The entire crew is believed to be around 400-500 each time. And our brave young dog ‘Hatch’ was one of the members that sank with this legendary ship.