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Henry V Ship Found In England Weeks Before Anniversary Of Historic Battle

By Regina Avalos
Published on: 22:35 PST, Oct 12, 2015

The wreckage of a Henry V ship has likely been found, and the discovery is generating huge buzz on the internet this week. News of the discovery started to circulate on Monday. According to the ABC Australia, Historic England announced on Monday that the Holighost might be located in the River Hamble in Southhampton. Scientists will work to confirm the discovery using sonar to investigate the area.

However, it is being reported that Holighost, a “major part of Henry V’s war machine,” is likely buried in the mud of the River Hamble. The location of the wreck is actually close to another ship from King Henry V’s fleet, his own ship. Back in 1930, the wreck of the Grace Dieu was found, and the location of that ship is quite near the spot of this wreckage.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, spoke about the discovery on Monday.

“To investigate a ship from this period is immensely exciting. It holds the possibility of fascinating revelations in the months and years to come.”

The Holighost is more than 600 years old, and its discovery could shed more light on the life and times of Henry V. A ship from the fleet of Henry VIII, the Mary Rose, was discovered in 1982, and it will soon be display in Portsmouth. Ian Friel, a historian, is behind the discovery of this warship. He has studied Henry V’s navy for decades, and he believes that Holighost is definitely buried in the mud of the River Hamble, even though not a single part of it is currently visible.

Friel shared some about the history of Holighost. It was built in 1415 for Henry V. Shipbuilders used the hull of a Spanish warship to create the ship. It was damaged in 1416 in a battle, but it was repaired in 1417. More repairs were completed on the ship in 1423, and it is likely that Henry V was on board the Holighost at some point. A royal cabin is said to have been added to the ship at some point.

The Holighost was one of four warships commissioned by Henry V for his navy. Most of his navy comprised of “hired-in ships or privately owned merchant ships pressed into service.” However, the Holighost was one of Henry V’s “great” ships. While in use, the Telegraph reported that it carried 200 sailors. At one point, the ship transported 240 soldiers to battle. On the ship there were seven cannons, but there were other weapons on board.

According to the Guardian, Ian Friel shared more about the history of the Holighost.

“The ship, built to terrorize and conquer the French, was painted with a French motto, Une sanz plus. ”One and no more’ – in other words, the king alone is master,” said Friel. ‘Henry was making it perfectly clear – there’s God and there’s Henry, and that’s your lot. It may have been the humbler ships that actually did most of the work, but these great ships were floating symbols of power and prestige, richly ornamented with elaborate carvings, flying huge flags, towering over the much smaller merchant ships. They would have been, and were intended to be, an absolutely awe-inspiring sight.”

News of this discovery comes just days before the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt. Henry V led his fleet to victory in the famous battle on October 25, 1415. The Holighost was not a part of the historic battle. It was in for repairs at that time. It joined Henry V’s fleet a few weeks later.

Historians have been studying the Battle of Agincourt. A report shared by the Guardian earlier this year revealed that some of the details of the battle were exaggerated. Historically, it is claimed that 1,500 ships went into battle with Henry V, but now historians have revealed that it was likely half that number that fought in that historic battle.

This discovery is causing excitement. Friel said that, “The Holigost was never as spectacular as the Grace Dieu, but in some ways it is more important – an identifiable medieval ship, that fought in known engagements, would be an incredibly rare thing to find anywhere in the world.”

This has been a year of discoveries. Scientists have unearthed items that are causing a lot of excitement. From dinosaur bones to James Dean’s car, all of the discoveries are causing people to talk.

What do you think about the potential discovery of Holighost?

[Photo courtesy of Neil Geering via Wikimedia Commons| Cropped and Resized | CC BY-SA 2.0]

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