The Tudors
Learning Objective:
To learn about Tudor exploration.
The Tudor Navy
When Henry VIII came to
power, England had only a
small navy. During his reign
Henry spent a great deal of
money building up a large
fleet to defend the kingdom.
Life at sea was risky and
dangerous, but sailors could
claim new land and bring
back things like cotton,
spices, silk and precious
metals.
Tudor Ships
The ships used in Tudor times were
called galleons. These were very large
ocean ships. They had a special deck for
cannons. They were broad, slow and not
very easy to move
around.
Life On Board
Life on board a Tudor ship was very
hard. The ships were dirty and often
infested with mice.
The sailors had to sleep on deck and only
had one set of clothes to wear.
Once on board, the sailors had to follow
orders otherwise they were beaten!
Life On Board
The main food on board was meat, salted to
stop it going rotten, and hard dry biscuits.
This was horrible to eat.
Due to the lack of fresh food, many sailors
got a disease called scurvy.
In 20 years, around 10,000 sailors died of
scurvy (More sailors were
killed by the food than
in sea battle!!!)
Tudor Explorers
The Tudor period was a great age of
exploration. Elizabeth I encouraged her sailors
to search for new lands and treasures.
Most explorers wanted to get rich. They were
looking for gold or valuable cargoes to bring
back home to sell.
Others went to tell people in
distant lands about the Christian religion.
These people were called missionaries.
Tudor Explorers
There are many famous Explorers from the
Tudor period.
We will be focusing on just two...
Sir Walter Raleigh
and
Sir Francis Drake
Your Task
In groups of 3, choose either
Sir Frances Drake or Sir Walter Raleigh
Find out as much as you can about them.
Include information such as where they
travelled, what they found, when they
began exploring etc.
Record your findings and
present your information
to the class.