The Listening Grove · Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Chapter 5: The White Ship
A Charlotte Mason read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 5, The White Ship, about?Parent review
Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 5, The White Ship, tells one of the saddest true stories in early English history. King Henry and his beloved son, Prince William, are sailing home to England from their lands in France. The prince follows in a beautiful new vessel, the White Ship, which sets out after dark and strikes a hidden rock. As it begins to sink, William gets away in a small boat, but he turns back when he hears his little sister crying to be saved. The boat is swamped by the crowd and goes down, and the prince is lost. The grief-stricken king, it is said, was never seen to smile again. It is a tender, sorrowful tale of love and loss at sea.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last chapter.
What happened in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 4, The Sons of William the Conqueror?Have a look
In the last chapter, The Sons of William the Conqueror, a great king wondered which of his three sons should rule after him. His wise men asked each boy what bird he would most like to be. Robert, the bold eldest, chose a hawk. William, the strong second son, chose an eagle. And Henry, the youngest and most book-learned, chose a friendly little starling. From their answers the wise men read each boy's nature and foretold what kind of man he would become. It was a clever way of showing how three brothers, raised together, could each turn out so different.
Read the previous lesson: The Sons of William the Conqueror →Show what you know!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Fill in the vocabulary you know, then click to check your work and learn some new words today.
What are the difficult or advanced vocabulary words in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 5, The White Ship?vessel, tourney, minstrel, lurchHave a look
- vessel: a ship or large boat
- tourney: a tournament where knights competed in contests of skill
- minstrel: a singer or musician of long ago, who often played a harp
- lurch: a sudden, heavy roll or tip to one side
Locate it on the map!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Use an atlas and fill in the blank map if you can find the geographic location, then click to check your work.
What important geographic location connects with Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 5, The White Ship?
- Find Barfleur (Normandy, France).
See it on the mapHave a look
This matches the map in your Lesson Guide.
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 5 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold, the Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition, read by Laura Caldwell.
Read by Laura Caldwell for LibriVox (public domain), professionally adjusted and trimmed by Kindred Thicket.
What do the Teacher’s Notes tell us about Chapter 5 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?Parent review
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Baldwin’s 1896 words are read exactly as he wrote them, and we add Teacher’s Notes with historical and literary context.
- About the whole bookFifty Famous Stories Retold gathers real history together with well-loved legends and traditions. These notes tell you, story by story, which is which.
- This chapterWilliam was Henry I's only legitimate son and expected heir.
- This chapterHenry and William were returning from Normandy, the king's lands in France.
- This chapterThe White Ship really did sail after dark and sink after striking a rock off Barfleur on 25 November 1120.
- This chapterWilliam truly turned his escape boat back to save his half-sister, and it was swamped and sank.
- This chapterOnly one man survived: Berold, a butcher of Rouen.
- This chapterThat Henry never smiled again is a traditional line; the loss did leave England without an heir and led to civil war.
Memory becomes Action!
Use the Response Resource* to remember and spell tricky names. Choose one way to narrate.
*Materials in the Lesson Guide.
What is the list of names, people, characters, and places that are important in Chapter 5 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?King Henry (the Handsome Scholar), Prince William, The Princess, The White Ship, France, Mrs. HemansHave a look
- King Henry (the Handsome Scholar): Henry I of England, whose grief at losing his son ran so deep that men said he never smiled again.
- Prince William: Henry's noble, beloved son, drowned when the White Ship struck a rock as he turned back to save his sister.
- The Princess: William's little sister, whose cry to be rescued brought the small boat back to the sinking ship.
- The White Ship: The beautiful new vessel with white sails, fitted out for the voyage home, that struck a rock and sank.
- France: Where Henry and William had gone to see their lands, setting sail from there for England.
- Mrs. Hemans: The poet whose verses, "He Never Smiled Again," close the chapter.
Chapter 5 Q & A
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Baldwin’s stories mingle real history with beloved legend, and here is what to know about this one.
Is the story of the White Ship true?
Yes, this is real history. The White Ship truly did sail after dark and sink after striking a rock off Barfleur, in France, on 25 November 1120. Prince William really did turn his escape boat back to save his half-sister, and it was swamped and lost. Only one man, Berold, a butcher of Rouen, survived the wreck.
Who was Prince William?
William was King Henry I's only lawful son and his expected heir, the boy who would one day have ruled England. In the tale he is noble and beloved. His death in the wreck of the White Ship is remembered not only for its sorrow but for his last brave act, turning back into danger to try to save his little sister.
Why is the story so important?
It mattered far beyond one family's grief. Because Prince William was lost, England was left without a clear heir to the throne. That gap led in time to a long and bitter civil war. So a single night's shipwreck off the coast of France changed the whole course of English history.
Did King Henry really never smile again?
That Henry never smiled again is a traditional saying, not a fact anyone could prove. It is the kind of line storytellers add to show how deep a sorrow ran. What is certain is that the loss of his only son grieved the king terribly and left his kingdom without an heir, with hard years to follow.