IN my long running debate with Julian Powell, we seem to have veered into a discussion about what is and what isn’t art.

I would say that the skill of the craftsman can elevate something beyond its functional use into becoming a work of art.

Having marvelled at the precision of the ship’s carpentry that looked as though it could have been machined, my old friend, the late Cllr.

Les Knight commented: “Yes, the precision of the human hand coupled to the computer of the human brains”.

Doubtless the thousands of visitors leaving the new Mary Rose museum will feel uplifted having seen something wonderful.

They have 40% of the ship’s hull; we have the same percentage of the Newport ship’s.

Our ship is two-thirds the size of the Mary Rose, but was launched 100 years before the Mary Rose sank.

They have 20,000 artefacts found onboard.

We have 1,000 of which about 100 would be worth putting on display.

However, other museums would lend items that would interpret medieval life and the times of the Newport ship.

It would make an impressive show, drawing thousands to our city.

A tremendous opportunity and a terrible indictment on us if we fail to rise to its challenge.

Charles Ferris, Fields Park Avenue, Newport