Section 49 The White Ship. — III
The prince went1 aboard the White Ship with one hundred and forty youthful nobles, among whom were eighteen noble ladies of the highest rank. All2 this gay company, with their servants and the fifty sailors, made three hundred souls aboard the White Ship.
“Give three3 casks of wine, Fitz-Stephen,” said the prince, “to the fifty sailors of renown. My4 father the king has sailed out of the harbour. What5 time is there to make merry here, and yet reach England with the rest?”
“Prince6,” said Fitz-Stephen, “before morning my fifty and the White Ship shall overtake the swiftest vessel in attendance on your father the king, if we sail at midnight.”
Notes
1 to go aboard ship, sich auf ein Schiff begeben; the young noble, der junge Adelige; ‘to be’, here sich befinden; eighteen — rank, achtzehn dem höchsten Range angehörige Damen. The words ‘aboard the White Ship’ take the last place in the clause.
2 This clause requires the following construction: With the servants (Dienerschaft, f.) and the fifty sailors consisted the whole gay company upon the White Ship of (aus) three hundred persons.
3 Construe according to App. § 5.
4 Say ‘My royal father’; has sailed out of = has left. Supply the adverb soeben after the auxiliary. This will greatly improve the rendering.
5 Also the two following passages require a different construction; say ‘How long can we still make merry (sich gütlich thun) here (to be placed before ‘still’), if we will arrive in England at the same time (zugleich) with the others?’ The words ‘in England’ should stand before the verbs, which arrange according to App. § 18.
6 Say ‘“If we sail at (um) midnight, O prince (see S. 27, N. 8), my fifty men (Leute) and the White Ship shall nevertheless (dennoch) before the coming morning overtake the swiftest ship in the service of thy royal father,” replied Fitz-Stephen’.—‘The swiftest — father’ = the swiftest in the service of thy royal father standing ship. (Comp. S. 48, N. 6.)