Mary Rose

The Mary Rose served successfully for 35 years as a principal warship in Henry VIII's navy. In 1545, while maneuvering to engage a French fleet outside Portsmouth, she unexpectedly went down in fourteen meters of water with disastrous loss of life; only 30-40 survived of about 400. The wreck was rediscovered in 1971 and underwater excavations showed that about 1/3 of the hull remained (1-3). Most of the starboard side and parts of the decks had survived deeply embedded in soft yielding clay.

Sulfur accumulation in the timbers of King Henry VIII's warship Mary Rose

In marine archaeological oak timbers of the Mary Rose large amounts of reduced sulfur compounds abound in lignin-rich parts such as the middle lamella between the cell walls, mostly as thiols and disulfides, while iron sulfides and elemental sulfur occur in separate particles. Synchrotron-based x-ray micro-spectroscopy was used to reveal this environmentally significant accumulation of organosulfur compounds in waterlogged wood. The total concentration of sulfur in reduced forms is around 1 mass% throughout the timbers, while iron fluctuates up to several mass%. Conservation methods are being developed aiming to control acid-forming oxidation processes by removing the reactive iron sulfides and stabilizing the organosulfur compounds.