[MR] Wikipedia: The White Ship Disaster

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble friends,

On this date in 1120 William Adelin, heir and only legitimate son of the
English king Henry I, drowned in the White Ship disaster.

The doomed White Ship set out from Barfleur, Normandy with over 300 drunken
nobles, their tipsy retainers, and an apparently equally bombed crew. They
shortly came to grief on Quillebeuf Rock, a semi-submerged water hazard. As
the ship capsized, William was able to get into a small boat, but he turned
back to rescue his half-sister. The boat was swamped by others trying to
get aboard, and William drowned. One passenger, a butcher from Rouen,
survived by clinging to the rock. The ship's captain, Thomas FitzStephen,
also landed on the rock. Upon learning that William had drowned, Thomas
threw himself back into the sea rather than face the king's wrath.

England was deprived of its legitimate heir, and when Henry I died 15 years
later, a civil war known as the Anarchy broke out in England. Henry's sole
survivor was Matilda (or Maud), the widowed consort of the Holy Roman
Emperor Henry V. She had remarried the unpopular Count of Anjou, Geoffrey
V. Enter the English King's nephew, Stephen of Blois who made a grab for
the throne. The two factions fought from 1138 to 1153, leaving much of
England devastated. The two sides finally settled the matter by leaving
Stephen on the throne, but promising that Matilda's son Henry would be the
next king. When Stephen died in 1154, Henry became Henry II, and the rest,
as they say, is history. But wait, it's all history.

The White Ship is a plot element in Ellis Peters' Chronicles of Brother
Cadfael, and plays a major role in the volume A LIGHT ON THE ROAD TO
WOODSTOCK. The Anarchy forms a background for the rest of the series.

More about the White Ship is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Ship_disaster .

The Anarchy is explored at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anarchy .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep Merry Rose relevant and in business.