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![]() The White Ship sinking
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History | |
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Name | Blanche-Nef |
Out of service | 25 November 1120 |
Fate | Struck a submerged rock off Barfleur, Normandy |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Sailing ship |
Installed power | Square sails |
Propulsion | Wind and oars |
The White Ship (French: la Blanche-Nef; Medieval Latin: Candida navis) was a vessel transporting many nobles, including the heir to the English throne, that sank in the English Channel near the Normandy coast off Barfleur during a trip from France to England on 25 November 1120.[1] Only one of approximately 300 people aboard, a butcher from Rouen, survived.[2]
Those who drowned included William Adelin, the only legitimate son and heir of Henry I of England, his half-siblings Matilda of Perche and Richard of Lincoln, the earl of Chester Richard d'Avranches, and Geoffrey Ridel. With William Adelin's death, the king had no obvious successor, and his own death 15 years later set off a succession crisis and a period of civil war in England known as the Anarchy (1135–1153).
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