Henry Grace à Dieu

• 1. Introduction

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  Henry Grace à Dieu, which means 'Henry, Thanks be to God', was an English warship that many people called Great Harry. She was a carrack, a tall-sided vessel also known as a great ship, and she sailed in the King's Fleet in the 16th century. In her day she was the largest warship in the world. She served as the flagship of Henry VIII. Why did a king order a vessel on this scale? What flaw nearly spoiled her as a fighting ship, and how was it fixed? Did she ever fight a great battle? And how did a ship built to dominate the seas come to an end?

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• 2. An Arms Race Afloat

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  In 1511 the Scottish ship Great Michael was launched, and she briefly held the title of the largest warship afloat. England and Scotland were naval rivals, and Henry VIII wanted a bigger ship. A second loss also shaped the order. The English ship Grace Dieu, later renamed Regent, was destroyed at the Battle of Saint-Mathieu in August 1512, and Henry Grace à Dieu was probably meant to replace her. Two men led the work. William Bond served as master shipwright, and Robert Brygandine, the clerk of the ships, directed the project. Henry's record did not last forever. In 1520 King Francis I of France built the 2000-ton Grande Françoise, which was larger still. She turned out to be too large to sail and never left port. The place where the English giant took shape was itself something new.

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• 3. Woolwich Gun Wharf

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  From 1512 to 1514, shipwrights worked at the Gun Wharf in Old Woolwich, a site built specially for the task. That wharf became the origin of Woolwich Dockyard. In the 1540s the dockyard moved further west, to an area known as The King's Yard, and it stayed there for more than 300 years. The ship was fitted out afterwards at the Naval Dockyard in Erith. The finished vessel was a towering shape. She was 165 feet long and measured 1,000 tons burthen, with a complement of 700 men. Her forecastle rose four decks high, while her stern castle rose two decks. Erith would see her again, for a very different reason.

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• 4. Gunports and Cannon

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  Twenty of the new heavy bronze cannon gave Henry Grace à Dieu a weapon that older ships could not match. She was one of the first vessels to feature gunports, openings cut into the hull for the guns. With them she could fire a broadside, a whole line of guns at once. Altogether she mounted 43 heavy guns and 141 light guns. A ship carrying that much built up high, however, revealed a flaw almost immediately.

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• 5. The Top Heavy Problem

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  Heavy rolling in rough seas plagued the ship, because she was top heavy. Her poor stability hurt the accuracy of her guns and made her a weak fighting platform. The cure came at Erith in 1539, three years after the Mary Rose, in a substantial remodelling. Shipwrights reduced the height of the hull. Afterwards she carried 151 guns of varying size. Twenty-one of them were bronze: 4 cannon, 3 demi-cannon, 4 culverins, 2 demi-culverins, 4 sakers, 2 cannon perriers and 2 falcons. Her full crew was now given as between 700 and 800 men. She also received an improved and innovative sailing arrangement. She had four masts, each divided into three sections. The forward two were square rigged with a mainsail, a topsail and topgallants. The aft two carried five lateen sails between them. This made the sails easier to handle and spread the force of the wind more evenly across the ship. Speed and maneuverability improved, and the heavy broadside could be put to better use. The only surviving contemporary depiction of her is in the Anthony Roll.

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• 6. Diplomat More Than Warrior

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  In 1520 Henry VIII travelled to the summit with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and Henry Grace à Dieu carried him. The ship was too deep for the harbours at Dover and Calais, so smaller ships had to ferry the king in and out. This was typical of her career, because she was used more as a diplomatic vessel than as a fighter. She was present at the Battle of the Solent against French forces in 1545, the battle in which the Mary Rose sank. Even so, she saw little action. A change of monarch in 1547 would soon give her a new name.

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• 7. Renamed and Burned

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  After the accession of Edward VI in 1547, the ship was renamed Edward in his honour. Six years later, fire accidentally destroyed her at Woolwich on the 25th of August 1553. That was 50 days after Edward VI died and Mary took the throne on the 6th of July 1553. By the time the flames reached her, the name she carried belonged to a king who had been dead for less than two months.

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