PORTSMOUTH, England, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Divers think they have found the missing front section of the Mary Rose, a warship that sank off the coast of Portsmouth, England, during Henry VIII's reign.
Most of the ship was recovered 20 years ago but the front quarter never was found.
On July 31, divers sifting through mounds of silt discovered a piece of timber more than 30 feet below the surface which they think could be the missing front stem of the ship's keel, the London Guardian reported.
The ship, one of the first designed to fire a broadside, sank en route to do battle with the French in 1545. It is believed the vessel was overloaded or mishandled.
The excavation was being carried out in advance of a Ministry of Defense plan to deepen the channels to the Portsmouth naval base to enable bigger carriers to sail when they go into service in 2012. The channel crosses the edge of the Mary Rose site. More than 19,000 artifacts have been recovered.
