Editing Mary Rose (section)

===Performance===

When the wreck of Mary Rose was first recovered, there was surprise that this was not the beamy vessel that was expected. The relatively narrow length to breadth ratio was accompanied by {{Nautical term|fine lines}}, particularly in the run (the underwater hull shape {{nautical term|abaft}} the midship section). Even in the full sections in the forward part of the hull there are some hollow lines. Generally, hull shape is a major contributor, in conjunction with the efficiency of the sails, to good sailing performance. This hull shape can certainly explain the reported good sailing qualities that ''Mary Rose'' displayed prior to her rebuild.{{sfnp|Adams|2013|pp=73, 76}}{{sfnp|Palmer|2009}}

The sailing capabilities of the ''Mary Rose'' were commented on by her contemporaries and were once even put to the test. In March 1513 a contest was arranged off [[The Downs (ship anchorage)|The Downs]], east of [[Kent]], in which she raced against nine other ships. She won the contest, and Admiral Edward Howard described her enthusiastically as "the noblest ship of sayle [of any] gret ship, at this howr, that I trow [believe] be in Cristendom".{{sfnp|Marsden|2003|pp=7–8}} Several years later, while sailing between [[Dover]] and The Downs, Vice-Admiral William Fitzwilliam noted that both the ''Henry Grace à Dieu'' and the ''Mary Rose'' performed very well, riding steadily in rough seas and that it would have been a "hard chose" between the two.{{sfnp|Marsden|2003|p=14}} The reports of good sailing performance early in her career did not continue after successive repairs and the major rebuild altered her characteristics.{{sfnp|Adams|2013|p=18}}