The White Ship (Henry I. of England.—25 November 1120): Duke University Library draft manuscript)

This nearly complete corrected draft manuscript resides in the Duke University Library. The document is in two parts of sheets folded into four pages each. The first part consists of four folded sheets, the first serving as a cover for the other three, which are marked A, B, C at the upper right of the rectos. The second part comprises nine folded sheets (same paper) paginated 1 through 9 on the upper right rectos. The versos are left blank for additions and revisions to the main text, of which there are a number in this document. The manuscript has passages that never found their way into the published work, and it lacks sixteen lines that are in the published version.

This manuscript must date from April 1880. DGR wrote the poem in April and completed it in early May.