Portsmouth Mary Rose museum starts final fundraising appeal

The wreck has been sprayed with a preserving chemical for several years and is now drying out

A new £36m museum for Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose needs a final £35,000 to be completed.

The Mary Rose Trust has launched a public appeal to raise the remainder of the cost.

The Portsmouth Historic Dockyard museum will display the 16th Century hull with 19,000 of its artefacts - including the skeleton of Hatch, the ship's dog.

The museum is due to open in the spring, marking 31 years since the hull was raised from the Solent seabed.

The Mary Rose Trust received a £21m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete the conservation of the hull and build the permanent museum.

The rest of the money was raised through various charitable trusts, fundraising and sponsors.

Work began on the museum in 2010.

The trust had been planning to open the museum in 2012 in time for the 30th anniversary of being raised from the seabed, but that date was revised.

The ship sank while leading an attack on a French invasion fleet in 1545, and was raised on 11 October 1982 after 437 years submerged.

Historian Dan Snow, ambassador for the new museum, said: "The Tudor warship has long been described as this country's Pompeii, painting the finest picture of 16th Century life."

Donations from £1 can be made via the Trust's JustGiving page.