11. Ultimately resulting in The Anarchy – a period of civil war in England – the sinking of the White Ship in 1120 caused the deaths of approximately 300 including the heir to the throne William Adelin.
A newly refurbished ship captained by Thomas FitzStephen, whose father had carried William the Conqueror across the Straits of Dover in 1066, the White Ship was offered to Henry I of England to return to the British Isles from Normandy in 1120. Possessing alternative arrangements, the White Ship was nevertheless granted the honor of carrying Henry’s heir, William Adelin, as well as his illegitimate son, Richard of Lincoln, half-sister, Matilda, and half-brother, Richard. After an evening of heavy drinking, Adelin, proclaiming he would beat his father back to England, ordered FitzStephen to set sail with haste.
Captaining the fastest ship in the fleet and confident in his skill, FitzStephen disembarked on November 25 in the middle of the night in pursuit of Henry’s vessel. Striking a submerged rock, however, the White Ship instead quickly sunk. In the panicked attempt to abandon ship aboard a small lifeboat, the drunken passengers overcrowded and unintentionally sunk that too. Drowning all 300 aboard except for two survivors, according to Orderic Vitalis FitzStephen initially survived but elected to drown rather than face the King’s wrath. The sudden death of the presumptive heir triggered a succession crisis and civil war in England.