Realisation of a lifelong ambition
It was a childhood dream that drove the late Alexander McKee to search for and find the Mary Rose.

The Hayling Island historian was only a young boy when he first heard the story of the great Tudor warship which sank in a battle with the French. Alexander McKee

Later in life, he found the time and the opportunity to pursue his belief that the wreck lay just a mile off Southsea Castle.

After several years of research, he and other amateur divers from the Southsea Sub-Aqua Club began to try to find the Mary Rose in 1965.

'They encountered scepticism from those who dubbed the Mary Rose McKee's Ghost Ship'

They encountered scepticism from those who dubbed the Mary Rose `McKee's Ghost Ship'.

The group, rarely more than a dozen strong, had no money and initally worked from tiny boats. Detailed surveying, carried out at weekends when tides were favourable, was only made possible by the generosity of friendly trawler owner Tony Glover,
whose minimal charge for fuel was covered by a quayside whipround.

'Once Mr McKee and the other original divers, dubbed Mad Mac's Marauders, had surveyed and assessed the Mary Rose, a trust was formed to carry out the excavation and recovery'

But when they found the site of the Mary Rose indicated on a 19th century chart and then, in 1967, used sonar scanning equipment to confirm that mounds and depressions deep in the silt corresponded to her shape, they had the last laugh.

A Mary Rose Committee was formed to obtain legal protection for the wreck and the discovery in 1970 of a wrought iron breechloading gun proved the identity of the Mary Rose beyond doubt.

Portsmouth Fire Brigade lent a pump and three diver-firemen to help blow mud and clay away from the wreck.

But the team still faced an extremely difficult challenge with inadequate resources. Fifty feet beneath the waves, they had to dig another 10 feet in the seabed, using their hands or trowels and spades.

Mr McKee himself described this part of the project as `sheer slogging. . .depressing drudgery'.

'Seventeen years after beginning their search, they looked on almost unnoticed as the Mary Rose was finally lifted into the light'

Such primitive methods were soon abandoned. Once Mr McKee and the other original divers, dubbed Mad Mac's Marauders, had surveyed and assessed the Mary Rose, a trust was formed to carry out the excavation and recovery.

For the original, close-knit team, it was a time of mixed emotions. There was great satisfaction that their pioneering work was about to come to fruition. But there was sadness too at how they felt sidelined once the project had been taken over by a consortium.

Seventeen years after beginning their search, they looked on almost unnoticed as the Mary Rose was finally lifted into the light. But without their dedication, repeatedly diving in poor visibility and exposing themselves to danger during years of laborious underwater work, the ship that had come to dominate their lives may never have been found. Their early work and dedication has since been widely acknowledged by The Mary Rose Trust.

Raising the wreck
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