White Ship Disaster

The White Ship Disaster

The mostly forgotten sinking 900 years ago left England with its first de facto queen

by Dvir Dvoretz

While the world has recently focused on the end of Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year-long reign, a look back to another event that changed the history of the United Kingdom lies beneath the sea–a vessel that sank 900 years ago with the king’s only son. The White Ship, often coined the “medieval Titanic,” presented England with sudden crisis, “ tragedy, and later, civil war. “No ship that ever sailed brought England such disaster. None was so well known the wide world over,” wrote William of Malmesbury, one of England’s greatest medieval historians.

In a matter of minutes, a future king and his dynasty sank below the cold waves of the English Channel.

The lengthy prologue begins in August 1100, with two sons of the great William the Conqueror, the childless and troubled King William II, and his younger brother Henry.

The two, along with other nobles go hunting late into the afternoon of August 2nd, where separated from the party, William is accidentally shot and killed.

Henry acts quickly, and three days later is crowned king of England and is occupied with securing his new position for the next six years, engaging in bitter conflict with his oldest brother, Robert, over control of England and their father’s ancestral land in France, Normandy, of which Robert is duke. In 1106, their conflict comes to a head on the battlefield, and Henry emerges victorious, capturing his brother and Normandy for himself. With strong support from the nobility Henry quickly secures himself as king in England, and as duke in Normandy, but a decade

No ship that ever sailed after his victory, he is faced brought England such disaswith innumerable odds. The king of France and his ter. None was so well known allies declared war against Henry in 1116, who with Northe wide world over... mandy in possession, hopes to make his son William Ade” lin duke. “For four years Henry had been fighting Louis VI to get the French king to acknowledge his son as duke of Normandy,” Charles Spencer, a historian, author, and younger brother of the late Princess Diana said. In 1118, Henry loses his good friend Robert de Beaumont and later his wife, Queen Matilda, though has no choice but to push forward and win the war. With a seventeen-year-old William by his side, Henry won a significant battle against the king of France in 1119 and made peace a few months later. Together father and son could finally return home to England–there was much to celebrate, William would soon become duke of Normandy, and with great hope, eventually

Henry I sits on his throne sorrowly, with his hands together as his mourns the loss of his son William

king of England–Henry was very happy.

“Henry was a loving father who invested all his hopes in this boy, and we know from the chroniclers that he took great care of him… He was grooming him to be his heir in a very thoughtful way, engaging him in things as a young man,” said Spencer.

Late into the night on Nov. 24, 1120, a stranger approached King Henry. Here the story of the White Ship truly begins.

The stranger, it turned out to be, was Thomas fitz Stephen, the son of captain Stephen fitz Airard, who had manned the flagship Mora, owned by Henry’s father.

“The man pointed out that it would be his honor to take the king back because it had been his father’s great privilege to captain the Mora…” Spencer added.

He had been the captain of the Blanche-Nef, “White Ship,” which had only just been refurbished and he had begged the king to allow him to take him back to England. “Stephen, my father, served yours all his life by sea…Sire king, I beg you to grant me the same office in fief: I have a vessel called the Blanche-Nef, well equipped and manned with 50 skilful mariners,” the famous lawyer and historian Henry Smith William recorded in his book “The Historians’ History of the World.”

King Henry politely refused, instead preferring to sail back on his own ship, though instead allowed Thomas to ferry his great son William Adelin, two other illegitimate royal children, and 300 other passengers, consisting of heroes of the recent war and various nobles.

In the evening hours of Nov. 25, Henry and those onboard his royal ship set off from the port of Barfleur, followed shortly by the passengers and crew of the White Ship.

“The ship probably set sail just before midnight. A large crowd watched them go: some were relatives of people who were sailing, but others just wanted to have a good look at this glamorous bunch of people on one ship. And

then they pushed out to sea.” Spencer described. Often, most monarchs had tried to avoid sailing in the later months of the year, but the weather and wind were clear; however, it had become freezing cold. Upon climbing aboard, the crew and passengers, excited by the presence of Prince William, began partying, which William gladly participated in, “The prince gave orders that they should have three muids. No sooner was the wine delivered to them than they had a great drinking bout, and pledging their comrades in full cups, indulged too much and became intoxicated,” reported Orderic Vitalis, another contemporary medieval English historian. Among the drunken and partying crowd, the passengers begin to urge the captain to race the king “ to England. “The cry goes out that

The helmsman, I think...lost all they must try and catch Henry I’s ship before it gets sense of how fast they were going to Southampton on the south coast of England, and ” beat him on the homeward journey,” Spencer explained. With the sail dropped and a strong working group of 50 oarsmen, the ship traveled with increasing speed through the night before striking a rock, the Quillebœuf, hidden underneath the dark waters of the English Channel. The rock had been impossible to see in the night. “The helmsman, I think, probably, lost all sense of how fast they were going–a combination of the very strong rowing team and the sail meant that they went much faster than they anticipated…” Spencer suggests. The ship quickly began to sink, with all 300 people onboard, including William Adelin, whose entourage had rushed him into the one lifeboat onboard. “The passengers and crew raised cries of distress, but their mouths were soon stopped by the swelling waves, and all perished together,” wrote Orderic Vitalis. In the dark, William and his men began

Medieval depiction of the White Ship Sinking

rowing away from the destroyed vessel, as others struggled in the cold waters, among them William’s half-sister Margaret.

“William and his bodyguards had started to get him away when Margaret of Perche, William’s half-sister, sees him escaping and starts screaming for him to come back.” Spencer described.

William hastily ordered his men to turn back, but as he attempted to save Margaret, many others clambered on, and the small boat capsized, and everyone aboard, including the prince, died.

Meanwhile, some miles away, the royal ship carrying the king continued forward unaware of what had occurred. Of the three hundred people who had survived the initial sinking, there was Berold, a simple butcher; Geffrey de l’Aigle, a nobleman; and the captain, Thomas fitz Stephen.

Geoffrey and Berold had held onto a rock for dear life when fitz Stephen suddenly appeared from the water and asked them if the prince had survived. They broke the news and Thomas let himself join the fate of the others.

“...he allowed himself to die because he didn’t want to be the one to explain what had happened to Henry’s three children who had died. He just let himself drift under and was never seen again,” Spencer described.

Through some of the night, Geoffrey and Berold talked to each other, but soon, Geoffrey had become fatigued, and died of hypothermia in the cold water, as many else had.

Berold held on through the night and was rescued by a group of three fishermen the following morning, he was the only one onboard the White Ship to survive, and immediately he told them the story of what had happened that fateful night.

The royal ship returned to England with no incident, but as there was no sign of the White Ship, many in the royal court already began spreading rumors, and had their worries confirmed when Berold’s account reached them.

“People quickly knew something had gone wrong with the White Ship, it was a clear night and there was no possible explanation except that it had sunk. Then the confirmation came when Berold was discovered the next morning…the news reached southern England within a day, but nobody wanted to tell Henry…,” Spencer said.

Finally, members of the royal court pushed a young child into breaking the news. The king collapsed with grief.

William was Henry’s only son, over the last several years, his father had been very proud of him, and believed fully that his son was destined to reign over England, all of what they had fought to secure had come crashing down.

Henry remarried in 1121 to the youthful Adeliza of Louvain, but together they did not produce a child.

However, William Adelin was not the king’s only legitimate child; in Germany, Matilda, his daughter, had been married to the emperor, who had died only recently of cancer.

The king had summoned her to return in 1125, and in 1127, had declared her his heir, a bold move in the sexist age that was the medieal times.

There were other choices, like William Clito who eventually died in 1128 anyways and the eldest son of Henry’s sister Adela, Theobald, however, Henry stuck through his decision.

Nobles swore oaths to Matilda in 1127, who after some strong convincing from her father, married Geoffrey of Anjou, the son of Henry’s former enemy in 1116, Fulk.

They had a child together in 1133, and Henry hoped that the crown would eventually pass through Matilda to her son, Henry, named after his grandfather. Just two years later in December 1135 Henry died.

“...Henry was asking for people to be loyal to her, to recognise her as queen, but really, she was a stepping stone, dynastically. By the time Henry died, she had some sons – the eldest one called Henry – and the king was really trying to use her as somebody to pass on the baton to his grandson. But he couldn’t do that without having her made queen,” Charles clarified.

The realm was taken by surprise at the detah of the king, and while Matilda was in central France with her young husband Geoffrey, her cousin Stephen, the younger brother of Theobald, had been on the coast.

After hastily sailing to England Stephen was quickly crowned the same month Henry had died. Most barons simply had no interest in having a female ruler, despite the wishes of King Henry, but when some backed Matilda, civil war quickly began.

“Stephen was okay for the first years of his reign, but then Matilda arrived in 1139 with an army and a proper civil war began which saw Stephen and Matilda vying for the English throne for 19 years,” Spencer said.

In the 1150s, Matilda’s now teenaged son, Henry called “fitzEmpress,” took over his mother’s cause and in 1153 ended the war, with Stephen agreeing to declare him his heir.

Stephen died in October 1154, just months later, and Henry fitzEmpress was crowned shortly after, as King Henry II.

“Henry’s grandson became Henry II and so it all came good – but after utter chaos. The Anarchy was aptly named. It was a complete bloodbath. It was about as tumultuous a time as Britain’s ever suffered and it all stemmed from the sinking of one ship,” Spencer said.

That fateful night had changed the course of history, the disaster that occurred removed a future king, and all of his possible descendants. Had the young “flower of his nobility,” William Adelin survived, King Charles III, Queen Elizabeth II, and all of their predecessors dating back to 1135 would not have ruled over England.

TIMELINE 1066-1154

William the Conqueror Defeats Harold Godwinson in battle and becomes king of England

The Conqueror's Death William I dies, Robert becomes duke, William II becomes king, Henry left with only some money

Robert's Capture After six years of conflict Henry, now king captures his older brother, Robert, in battle

Victory and Glory The king and his son William decisively beat their enemies and end the war

1068

Birth of a Future King

Henry, later Henry I, born sometime in 1068 to William I and his wife Matilda of Flanders

A Hunting Accident William Rufus is accidently killed while hunting, youngest brother Henry rushes to the throne

1087

1100

1106

1116

Innumerable Odds Decade after victory, Henry is faced with new challenges and war

1119

1120

Disaster

William, the king's only heir, and 300 other people drown in the White Ship sinking, only a butcher survives

Hopes For a New Heir King Henry remarries, hoping to produce a new heir; the effort was futile. 1127

1133-1139

"The Anarchy"

Matilda becomes heir, her first child, a son is born in 1133. King Henry I dies in 1135. Stephen seizes the throne. Civil war quickly begins in 1139.

A Queen Rules

Stephen is defeated and captured temporarily. Matilda becomes queen for seven years. Stephen is eventually released and war continues. 1141-1148

Henry II