ain Fitz-Stephen.

The King was in a hurry to get home, and he started as soon as the tide
would let him.

In the White Ship with Prince William a great many knights and nobles
sailed. Some of his own relatives were there, and many boys and girls
belonging to the chief families of England. They wanted to have a good
time, so they had a grand feast on board ship before they started on the
voyage. They shouted and danced on the deck, and, I am sorry to say,
they drank a great deal of wine. They did one thing that was specially
foolish. They made the sailors drink, too. They opened three barrels of
the wine and divided it among them. They ought to have known that the
sailors would need steady hands to take the ship across that dangerous
sea. But they did not think. It grew later and later, and darker and
darker, and there was no moon that night. Some people began to be afraid
to trust themselves in that ship, and they got off and waited till
morning for another one. Most of them, however, were feeling too merry
and jolly to be afraid of anything, and away they sailed. The rowers
pulled with all their might and the helmsman steered for England.

A man who has been using strong drink, though, is not fit to steer a
ship or anything else. It has been found out that after even a very
little wine or beer one cannot guide so well, or do anything else
properly that needs a clear brain and steady nerves.

Alcohol makes people stupid. We all know that if they drink a good deal
of it, it takes their senses altogether away, so that they don't know
anything and can't do anything. So, if they drink a little of it, it
takes their senses partly away and they are not so bright as they should
be. They do not see danger when it comes and then accidents happen.

The helmsman of the White Ship was made stupid by the wine and he was
not able to do his work. They had not gone very far before he steered
the ship on a rock. There was a terrible crash and a terrible cry, and
the water began to rush in through the hole which had been made.

Quickly a boat was lowered and Prince William was hurried into it, and
the rowers rowed away with him. But he heard a voice calling for help
and knew it was his sister's, so he made the sailors turn back to save
her. When they did so, ever so many people jumped in and the little boat
could not hold them. They all went to the bottom.

No one escaped from that dreadful shipwreck except one man who held on
to