Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is Episode 389, the

Tyrant and the Muddy Crossing. This show is ad-free due to members' support. And as

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The shores of St. Valerie must have been quite the sight. Looking at the records, which discuss the

size of this fleet and other notes that let us estimate the size of the original fleet that

launched from the River Dive, and then comparing those to the records of the fleet following its

mooring at St. Valerie, historians are able to estimate that William lost somewhere in the

region of a hundred ships. Now some of these would have been shipwrecked, but others would have

just deserted. And in all, the hundred lost ships would have accounted for about 10 to 12% of

his entire invasion force, meaning that if these estimates are accurate, his fleet was decimated,

quite literally. Making matters worse, the fleet had already burned through most of their

supplies. And hungry fighters are dangerous fighters. Especially when you're in your own lands,

and the last thing that you want is for your army to go pillaging for supper. And putting a

cherry on top, the weather had turned nasty. The remaining fleet was continually being battered by

high winds and rain, and there was no reason to think that this would let up. It was September,

so things would likely get worse from here. So if you were William, you might take in this scene,

...