White Ship disaster
E482494
The White Ship disaster was a catastrophic 1120 shipwreck in the English Channel that drowned King Henry I’s heir William Adelin and triggered a succession crisis leading to the period of civil war known as The Anarchy.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| White Ship disaster canonical | 4 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4953804 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: White Ship disaster Context triple: [William Adelin, event, White Ship disaster]
-
A.
Portsmouth Flotilla
The Portsmouth Flotilla is a Royal Navy formation based at Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, comprising various ships and units responsible for maritime operations and support in UK and nearby waters.
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B.
shipwreck of the Princess Amelia
The shipwreck of the Princess Amelia was the maritime disaster in which Dutch colonial governor Willem Kieft lost his life when the vessel sank off the coast of Wales in 1647.
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C.
Maheno shipwreck
The Maheno shipwreck is the rusting remains of a former luxury ocean liner and World War I hospital ship that now serves as a prominent historic landmark and tourist attraction on the shores of Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia.
-
D.
The Mary Rose (shipwreck)
The Mary Rose is a famous 16th-century English warship of Henry VIII that sank in 1545 and was later raised and preserved as a major maritime archaeological exhibit.
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E.
shipwreck of the Beatrice
The shipwreck of the Beatrice is the lost vessel that was carrying the ancient basalt sarcophagus from the Pyramid of Menkaure when it sank in the 19th century.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: White Ship disaster Target entity description: The White Ship disaster was a catastrophic 1120 shipwreck in the English Channel that drowned King Henry I’s heir William Adelin and triggered a succession crisis leading to the period of civil war known as The Anarchy.
-
A.
Portsmouth Flotilla
The Portsmouth Flotilla is a Royal Navy formation based at Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, comprising various ships and units responsible for maritime operations and support in UK and nearby waters.
-
B.
shipwreck of the Princess Amelia
The shipwreck of the Princess Amelia was the maritime disaster in which Dutch colonial governor Willem Kieft lost his life when the vessel sank off the coast of Wales in 1647.
-
C.
Maheno shipwreck
The Maheno shipwreck is the rusting remains of a former luxury ocean liner and World War I hospital ship that now serves as a prominent historic landmark and tourist attraction on the shores of Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia.
-
D.
The Mary Rose (shipwreck)
The Mary Rose is a famous 16th-century English warship of Henry VIII that sank in 1545 and was later raised and preserved as a major maritime archaeological exhibit.
-
E.
shipwreck of the Beatrice
The shipwreck of the Beatrice is the lost vessel that was carrying the ancient basalt sarcophagus from the Pyramid of Menkaure when it sank in the 19th century.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
historical event
ⓘ
maritime disaster ⓘ shipwreck ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | wreck of the White Ship ⓘ |
| bodyOfWater | English Channel ⓘ |
| captain | Thomas FitzStephen ⓘ |
| cause |
drunkenness of crew and passengers
ⓘ
nighttime departure ⓘ overloading of ship ⓘ ship striking submerged rock ⓘ |
| contemporaryChronicler |
Henry of Huntingdon
ⓘ
Orderic Vitalis ⓘ William of Malmesbury ⓘ |
| countryAtTime | Duchy of Normandy ⓘ |
| date | 1120-11-25 ⓘ |
| heirToThroneWhoDied | William Adelin ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
precipitated civil war in England
ⓘ
turning point in English royal succession ⓘ |
| intendedPassenger | Henry I of England ⓘ |
| intendedRoute | Barfleur to England ⓘ |
| killedPerson |
Lucia-Mahaut of Blois, Countess of Chester
ⓘ
linked to:
Lucia-Mahaut of Blois
Matilda FitzRoy ⓘ Richard d’Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester ⓘ
linked to:
Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester
Richard of Lincoln ⓘ William Adelin ⓘ many Anglo-Norman nobles ⓘ |
| languageOfPrimaryAccounts | Latin ⓘ |
| location |
English Channel
ⓘ
near Barfleur ⓘ |
| monarchDuringEvent | Henry I of England ⓘ |
| partOf | history of the Anglo-Norman monarchy ⓘ |
| patron | Henry I of England ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Empress Matilda
ⓘ
Norman succession ⓘ Stephen of Blois ⓘ The Anarchy ⓘ |
| result |
The Anarchy
ⓘ
death of William Adelin ⓘ end of direct male line of Henry I ⓘ political instability in Anglo-Norman realm ⓘ strengthening of claims of Empress Matilda ⓘ strengthening of claims of Stephen of Blois ⓘ succession crisis in England ⓘ |
| ship | White Ship ⓘ |
| survivor | Berold ⓘ |
| survivorOccupation | butcher ⓘ |
| year | 1120 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: White Ship disaster Description of subject: The White Ship disaster was a catastrophic 1120 shipwreck in the English Channel that drowned King Henry I’s heir William Adelin and triggered a succession crisis leading to the period of civil war known as The Anarchy.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.