9. A Drunken Idiot Idea
The inebriated Prince William and his friends challenged the White Ship’s captain and crew to make a race of it and catch King Henry’s ship, which had sailed hours earlier before it reached England. Captain and crew, confident of their ship’s speed, accepted the challenge. Furiously rowing, fueled by copious amounts of wine while they were cheered and urged on by the drunk prince and his friends, the equally drunk crew set a good pace. However, in their plastered state, the crew failed to keep a good lookout and rowed into a hazardous stretch, where they struck a partially submerged rock.
The White Ship was holed and quickly sank. Hundreds drowned, including the prince. William was his father’s only legitimate male issue, and his death caused a succession crisis. King Henry failed to sire another son, and so sought to designate his daughter, Matilda, as his heir. His barons reluctantly agreed, but when Henry died in 1135, most of them backed the deceased king’s nephew, Stephen of Blois, when he claimed and seized the crown as the eldest male royal relative. The result was a civil war that tore England apart for decades.
