What is the name of the vessel for which it was still considered possible she could be raised even as late as 1549?
The "ship portrait" had a long history in maritime art, from medieval seals and coins to early engravings in the 15th century, and the plain side-on view of a ship under sail, often with no crew shown, was well established as the most effective way of recording the build of vessels.  The Anthony Roll belongs to a genre of works that was intended to serve a dual role for the king and the military leadership: as reasonably informative overviews listing details of ships or strategic areas of coastlines they could be studied to determine strengths and weaknesses, and as boastful and lively depictions of Tudor military might they could be used to flatter the king, impress courtiers and impose martial authority on foreign ambassadors. Contemporary maps, or "plats", were routinely decorated with detailed pictures of ships, to mark bodies of water as much as to liven up the scenes. Such maps were common at the time, and were even embellished by artists if deemed too simple or drab. The navy was expanded during Henry VIII's reign, and he was known to take an interest in warships, as can be seen by the epic painting Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover which portrayed, if rather unrealistically, the ships that took the 29-year-old king to the summit meeting with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. This painting, recently dated to around 1545, has also been suggested as a likely source of inspiration to Anthony for his illustrations.There are three such plats depicting naval actions and expeditions that are attributed to Anthony: the route of Anne of Cleves from the Low Countries to England (1539), a French attack on a coastal fort (date unknown) and a French raid on Brighton (July 1545). The design of the ships in these paintings, especially that of the Brighton raid, closely match those in the rolls. It is not known exactly when work on the rolls began nor when it was finished. It is only certain that it was presented to the king the year it was dated, 1546. The inclusion of the Mary Rose that sank at the Battle of the Solent 19 July 1545 does not mean it was necessarily started before this date, since it was still considered possible that she could be raised even as late as 1549. The galleasses, the Antelope, Hart, Bull and Tiger, all present in the second roll, were still being built around March 1546, and the Hart was not at sea until October that year. At the same time the Galley Blanchard, captured from the French 18 May 1546 is not included.
Mary Rose