Mary Rose’s canine catcher revealed

The 16th century remains were revealed, somewhat appropriately, by courtesy of the Kennel Club at the DFS Crufts show, held at Birmingham’s NEC from 11-14 March.

Next, they will go on display at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, from 26 March. 

The dog, identified as a two-year-old female mongrel, would have been kept aboard to catch rats and other vermin. Cats were not used, as seamen regarded their presence as unlucky.

The dog was named Hatch by her excavators, after being found near the sliding hatch door of the carpenter’s cabin. She would probably have been looked after by him.

The bones were painstakingly preserved and reconstructed over a period of years. Their form suggests that Hatch spent much of her life within the ship’s tightest spaces, as she went about her business as the ship’s ratter.

Artefacts displayed at the Mary Rose Museum will be joined by many others, currently stored, when a new, larger museum opens in the Historic Dockyard.

The new site, due for completion in 2012, will bring together the remains of the Mary Rose hull and the artefacts, housed separately up to now.

Fundraising initiatives remain in place, with Hatch starring as the mascot of the Mary Rose 500 Public Appeal.

Five hundred individuals, schools, businesses and organisations are being sought to become a symbolic “new crew” of the Tudor warship, by each pledging to raise £500 towards the appeal.

Related links
Mary Rose official website
Mary Rose 500 Appeal
2009 start for Mary Rose museum build