IELTS0812

Raising the Mary Rose
How a sixteenth-century warship was recovered from the seabed

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what happened to the ship vary: while witnesses agree that she was not hit by the French, some maintain that she was outdated, overladen and sailing too low in the water, others that she was mishandled by undisciplined crew.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

海底 舰队 海岸 岛屿 船只 超载 错误操纵 无纪律 船员 无可争议 沉没 尝试

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.

右舷 陷阱 沙 泥 侵蚀 生物 损耗 完整 粘土 最小化 侵蚀
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.

阻梗 原来是 沉没 齿轮 潜水 木材 青铜 间歇的 修复 弓 
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.

褪色 默默无闻 军事 业余 潜水员 链接 发起 检测 残骸 普通 合作 
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.

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.

1. abstract 抽象

2. accurate 准确的

3. analysis 分析

4. application 应用

5. approach 方法

6. argument 论点

7. aspect 方面

8. assess 评估

9. assumption 假设

10. authority 权威

11. benefit 利益

12. challenge 挑战

13. character 特征

14. clarify 澄清

15. coherence 连贯性

16. collaborate 合作

17. complexity 复杂性

18. concept 概念

19. conclude 结论

20. conflict 冲突

21. consistent 一致

22. context 背景

23. contrast 对比

24. correspond 对应

25. critice 批评

26. crucial 关键的

27. data 数据

28. debate 辩论

29. deduce 推断

30. define 定义

31. demonstrate 证明

32. depict 描绘

33. derive 推导出

34. describe 描述

35. design 设计

36. determine 确定

37. develop 发展

38. differentiate 区分

39. dimension 尺寸

40. discuss 讨论

41. diverse 多样

42. effect 效果

43. element 元素

44. emphasize 强调

45. enable 使能够

46. encounter 遭遇

47. enhance 增强

48. ensure 确保

49. environment 环境

50. establish 建立

51. estimate 估计

52. evidence 证据

53. evolve 发展

54. examine 检查

55. exemplify 举例说明

56. expand 扩大

57. explain 解释

58. explore 探究

59. extract 提取

60. factor 因素

61. feature 特征

62. focus 焦点

63. function 功能

64. furthermore 此外

65. generate 产生

66. global 全球的

67. illustrate 说明

68. impact 影响

69. imply 暗示

70. indicate 指示

71. infer 推断

72. influence 影响

73. innovation 创新

74. insight 洞察力

75. instance 例子

76. integrate 整合

77. interpret 解释

78. investigate 调查

79. involve 涉及

80. justify 证明

81. label 标签

82. method 方法

83. modify 修改

84. motivation 动机

85. norm 标准

86. observe 观察

87. obtain 获得

88. occur 发生

89. paradigm 范例

90. perceive 感知

91. perspective 视角

92. phenomenon 现象

93. policy 政策

94. potential 潜力

95. predict 预测

96. principle 原则

97. process 过程

98. promote 促进

99. propose 建议

100. pursue 追求