第1段

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of what happened to the ship vary: while witnesses agree that she was not hit by the French, some maintain that she was outdated, overladen and sailing too low in the water, others that she was mishandled by undisciplined crew.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.

1545年7月19日，英法两国舰队在英格兰南部海岸的索伦特海域进行了一场海战，该海域位于朴茨茅斯和怀特岛之间的水域。在英国舰队中有一艘战舰名为“玛丽罗斯”。这艘船在35年前于朴茨茅斯建造，她经历了漫长而成功的战斗生涯，是亨利八世国王的心爱之船。关于这艘船的命运，各种说法不一：虽然目击者们一致表示她没有被法国击中，但有人认为她过时、过载并且航行过低，还有人认为她的船员缺乏纪律。然而，无可争议的是，那一天玛丽罗斯沉没进入索伦特海域，至少带走了500名船员的生命。战后，有人试图打捞这艘船，但都以失败告终。

第2段

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.

玛丽罗斯沉入海底后，以右舷（右侧）倾斜约60度的角度停在海底。船体成为被索伦特海流带来的沙土的陷阱。结果，右舷一侧迅速填满，而左舷一侧则被海洋生物和机械侵蚀。由于船只下沉的方式，几乎整个右舷一半幸存完好。在17世纪和18世纪，整个遗址被一层坚硬的灰色黏土覆盖，这减少了进一步的侵蚀。

第3段

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.

然后，在1836年6月16日，一些在索伦特海域捕鱼的渔民发现他们的设备被卡在水下的障碍物上，结果发现那是玛丽罗斯。潜水员约翰·迪恩碰巧在附近探索另一艘沉船，渔民们向他求助，请求他解救他们的装备。迪恩下潜，发现装备被从海底略微伸出的一根木材卡住。进一步探索时，他发现了其他几根木材和一门青铜炮。迪恩在此后的几年中断断续续地在该遗址潜水，又找到了几门炮、两张弓、各种木材、部分泵以及其他一些小发现物。

第4段

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.

玛丽罗斯在接下来的一百年中逐渐被遗忘。但是在1965年，军事历史学家和业余潜水员亚历山大·麦基与英国水下探险俱乐部合作，发起了一个名为“索伦特船只”的项目。尽管在文件中这是一个检查索伦特已知沉船的计划，但麦基实际上希望找到玛丽罗斯。常规的搜索技术不尽人意，所以麦基与麻省理工学院电气工程教授哈罗德·埃奇顿合作。1967年，埃奇顿的侧扫声纳系统发现了一个巨大且不寻常形状的物体，麦基相信那就是玛丽罗斯。

第5段

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.

进一步的挖掘揭示了零散的木材和一门铁炮。但是，整个行动的高潮是在1971年5月5日，船体的一部分被发现。麦基和他的团队现在确定他们找到了这艘沉船，但他们尚不知道它还藏有保存完好的珍贵文物。对该项目的兴趣日益增长，1979年成立了玛丽罗斯基金会，查尔斯王子担任主席，玛格丽特·鲁尔博士担任考古总监。是否打捞这艘沉船并不是一个容易的决定，尽管1978年的发掘显示可能有可能提起船体。尽管最初的目标是在可能的情况下提起船体，但直到1982年1月所有必要的信息都可用后，才正式批准了这个行动。

第6段

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.