A 16th century dog, the only known female to have served aboard King Henry VIII's ill-fated flagship the Mary Rose, has stolen the show at Britain's Crufts dog show this year.

The two-year old mongrel, lost aboard the Tudor warship 465 years ago, is a special guest of the Kennel Club this year, according to the show's organisers.

The painstakingly reconst-ructed skeleton, poised on its haunches, acquired the nickname "Hatch" after divers discovered her remains near the sliding hatch door of the Mary Rose's carpenter's cabin.

Her remains were found partly inside and outside his quarters suggesting she was trapped there as the huge warship, the pride of the English fleet, keeled over and sank in the Solent off England's southern coast in mysterious circumstances.

Experts from the Mary Rose Trust believe she almost certainly earned her keep as the ship's "ratter" - superstitious Tudor sailors did not have cats on board as they were thought to bring bad luck.

And she was probably very good at her job - only the partial remains of rats' skeletons have been found on board the Mary Rose, they say.

"Expert analysis of Hatch's bones suggests that she spent most of her short life within the close confines of the ship," said Rear-Admiral John Lippiett, chief executive officer of the Mary Rose Trust.