Dawn Perrier

Mary Rose - Flagship of Henry VIII’s Naval Fleet

The Mary Rose was the flagship of Henry VIII’s naval fleet; on the 19th July 1545 in a battle with the French Armada just outside Portsmouth Harbour, the Mary Rose sank suddenly with 700 men on board. Apart from a few attempts to explore the wreck in the 1800s, it remained untouched for nearly 500 years when in 1979 to 1982, a team of divers and marine archaeologists from the newly formed Mary Rose Trust embarked on a project to excavate the contents of the ship and bring to the surface the remains of the hull of the Mary Rose and all its treasures.

Dawn Perrier

Presenter and Member of the Professional Dive Team

Dawn Perrier was a young diver who from 1979 to 1982 was a member of the professional full time dive team who were involved in the excavation of over 20,000 artifacts from the sunken wreck of the Mary Rose.

Dawn has been a passionate supporter of the Mary Rose Trust for many years and now gives talks and lectures internationally about what is the most ambitious maritime excavation project ever undertaken. In her talks Dawn gives a fascinating insight into the historical events surrounding the sinking of the Mary Rose during the Battle of the Solent with the French in 1545, to the early attempts to raise the ship, through to the incredible engineering feat that finally raised the ship from the seabed on the 11th October 1982; an event watched by millions on TV throughout the world. However, in the 3 years prior to that, it was a race against time by the dive team, undertaking 27,000 dives, to raise over 20,000 artifacts preserved in the silts of the Solent. Today this provides us a with unique time capsule of life onboard a Tudor war ship, which we see today at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.