WHITE SHIP

On a freezing night in November 1120, Henry I of England, the most formidable ruler in Europe, sailed from the port of Barfleur. Following him was the White Ship, carrying Henry's only legitimate son. Spoilt and arrogant, William Aetheling had plied his gilded comrades and crew with drink from the minute he stepped aboard. At midnight, the helmsman rammed the ship into rocks. A butcher from Rouen was the sole survivor. With Henry's heir dead, a civil war of untold violence erupted which would change English and European history.