Archaeology & History

Mary Rose dog turns out to be male

By T.K. Randall
October 20, 2014 ·  4 comments

The Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover. Image Credit: PD - 1775 The famous Mary Rose warship fought in several wars for England under King Henry VIII spanning 33 years of active service.

It would eventually meet its doom however during an attack on a French invasion fleet in the Solent in 1545, consigning both the ship and its crew to the bottom of the sea near the Isle of Wight.

The wreck would lie forgotten for several centuries before being rediscovered in 1971 and salvaged in 1982.One of the best known finds aboard the wreckage was the remains of the ship's dog, Hatch. Thought to have been the only female on the whole ship, the loyal dog has since become something of a celebrity and her skeleton can still be viewed at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth.

There was however to be one final twist in the tale this month when new DNA test results revealed that the famous canine was in fact a male dog, not a female as had been previously believed.

"Study of the 179 crew recovered from the ship confirms that they were all male, suggesting the historic preference for an all-male crew on board an active warship can be taken back to the 16th century – including the ship's dog," said Sally Tyrrell of the Mary Rose Museum.

Source: Independent | Comments (4)

Tags: Mary Rose, Dog