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Divers to lift huge Mary Rose timber
ONE of the building blocks of Henry VIII's favourite warship is to be plucked from the murky depths of the Solent.
Salvage diving will resume tomorrow 50ft down in silt off Portsmouth where the Mary Rose sank 460 years ago.
Maritime archeologists plan to raise a massive bow timber in a delicate operation funded by the Ministry of Defence.
The 11-metre timber will eventually be reunited with the hull of the Tudor flagship in a 20m museum in the historic dockyard.
The Mary Rose Trust hopes to open the world-class facility in 2011, the 500th anniversary of the vessel's first voyage.
Three weeks have been set aside for the salvage expedition. Twelve divers will be based over the wreck site on the dive ship MV Terschelling.
Experts hope to bring the timber to the surface on October 11, along with an anchor.
Both items were unearthed during exploratory digs over the past two years, and are now at risk from erosion.
jon.rosamond@thenews.co.uk
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Weather for Portsmouth
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -4 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
