Mary Rose: Your chance to win seat on boat going to spot in the Solent where Henry VIII's ship was raised in 1982

As part of the celebrations surrounding the 40th anniversary of King Henry VIII’s flagship, a boat will sail to the area where the Tudor vessel was raised on October 11, 1982.

The Mary Rose Trust is inviting three people from Portsmouth to sit onboard the boat and join some of the original divers who were involved in recovering the ship and its remains.

The trust says the winners will be local people who ‘embody the spirit of Portsmouth, go above and beyond to support their community and deserve to be recognised’.

Mary Rose Trust chief executive Dominic Jones said: ‘We are really excited to announce our Facebook competition, giving deserving Portsmouth residents the chance to be part of this historic occasion and see for themselves where the Mary Rose fatefully sank nearly 500 years ago and 465 crew lost their lives.

‘The winners will have chance to hear stories from the divers who helped to raise the ship 40 years ago, many whom have returned to the seabed to recover thousands of items from the ship which are now on display in the museum. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we wanted to ensure our local community has the opportunity to be part of this special experience.’

Participants will get the chance to nominate someone they think deserves to be on the boat more than anyone else by commenting underneath the Facebook post with their name, the reason they should win and the hashtag #MaryRose40

To nominate someone click here.

The competition will run until Thursday, October 6, with the winner announced on Friday. Entries close at 5pm on Thursday and the three winners will be chosen at random.

The competition is just one of several events happening to mark the anniversary of the raising of the ship, which spent 437 years underwater and was brought to the surface in front of a televised audience of about 60 million.

Including unseen footage from the excavation of the ship and its raising, Channel 4 is set to release a Secret History documentary dedicated to the Mary Rose.

The episode will be aired on Sunday, October 9 at 7pm and repeated on Saturday, October 15 at 6pm.

Raising The Mary Rose: The Lost Tapes tells the personal stories of the people who were there – from the 500 divers who committed 11.5 man-years on the seabed to the key role HM King Charles III played in the success of the mission.

A preview says: ‘As the clock ticked and winter storms threatened to destroy the ship forever, this film documents how dedicated teams worked day and night to bring the Mary Rose to the surface.

‘Through intimate interviews and the exploration of a wealth of archive lost for the last 40 years, Raising The Mary Rose: The Lost Tapes reveals aspects of this story that have never been told before.’

The ship is held in the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.