Mary Rose Expedition acquires a catamaran

This historically significant film, made by Ilse McKee, begins with a catamaran being towed by a fishing boat towards a quay in Chichester Harbour. A small number of onlookers wait on the quayside while the boats are berthed. We then see Alexander McKee, the inspirational driving force behind the Mary Rose expedition, alongside John Barber, who donated the catamaran and a woman, who might possibly be the archeologist, Margaret Rule, toasting their new acquisition

The catamaran seen in this film, played a major part in the Mary Rose Expedition. Though without an engine, she carried a compressor, which enabled the removal of the silt that covered the wreck lying in the approaches to Portsmouth Harbour. Each weekend the catamaran was towed to the wreck's location by Tony Glover's fishing boat, also seen in the film. Ilse McKee records that her husband, Alexander, who made the Mary Rose his life's work, wrote to the Warner Brothers film studios in Hollywood, telling them about the project. They gave the McKees a movie camera in order to record significant moments in the project's early history. Many of these films are now held at the Wessex Film & Sound Archive.