[4] Henry had already made other arrangements, but allowed many in his retinue to take the White Ship, including his heir, William Adelin, his illegitimate children Richard of Lincoln and Matilda FitzRoy, Countess of Perche, and many other nobles.

[5] The White Ship was fast, of the best construction and had recently been fitted with new materials, which made the captain and crew confident they could reach England first.

The chronicler further wrote that when Thomas FitzStephen came to the surface after the sinking and learned that William Adelin had not survived, he let himself drown rather than face the king.

Although Henry I had forced his barons to swear an oath to support Matilda as his heir on several occasions, a woman had never ruled in England in her own right.

Stephen had allegedly planned to travel on the White Ship but had disembarked just before it sailed;[4] Orderic Vitalis attributes this to a sudden bout of diarrhoea.

After Henry I's death, Matilda and her husband Geoffrey of Anjou, the founder of the Plantagenet dynasty, launched a long war against Stephen and his allies for control of the English throne.