A new dive to the remaining submerged sections of the Mary Rose has allowed archaeologists to survey the current state of the shipwreck in the Solent

© Mary Rose Trust

Experts described the investigation – the first major dive to the underwater remains of the Mary Rose shipwreck in nine years – as “very successful”.Coinciding with the anniversary of the new Mary Rose Museum, divers placed a datalogger on the seabed and a high-tech buoy on the surface of the water, beaming back information to scientists via satellite.“Everything is now deeply buried and this will preserve what remains on the seabed into the future,” said Christopher Dobbs, a Maritime Archaeologist from the Mary Rose Trust who has dived at the site more than 1,000 times.“It was wonderful to go down to the site again and see how well it continues to be protected in the silts.“The visibility was not good, but it was good enough to position the monitoring equipment and for Serco Marine to carry out the dives needed to put new sinkers on the seabed and to replace the ageing wreck buoy that marks the protected wreck area.”Professor Mark Jones, the Trust’s chief scientist, said the new equipment would help monitor seawater and sediment conditions.“There are still significant numbers of timbers and objects buried in the seabed,” he explained.“The information collected will help us protect the buried materials for the future.’’The museum is one of six venues hoping to triumph when the Art Fund Museum of the Year award winner is announced on July 9 2014.