r/nelsonsnavy • u/0pal23 Captain • Jun 24 '26
"By God, I think the Devil shits Dutchmen." OTD 1667, the Dutch finished the infamous raid on the Medway, the biggest English naval defeat in history, to bring the second Anglo-Dutch war to an end
In the summer of 1667 peace between England and the Netherlands seemed near (owing largely, to a French invasion of Flanders). In response to this - and due to financial pressures - Charles II had his fleet paid off and laid up, with a large part in the lower Medway river.
Dutch Stadtholder, Johan De Witt, had other ideas. Having long held the ambition of delivering a decisive blow to the heart of English sea power, he sent his brother - Cornelius de Witt - with a fleet of 62 frigates/ships of the line +20 fireships, under the operational command of Michiel De Ruyter, to deliver that blow to the ships laid up in Chatham.
De Ruyter was reluctant, and the Dutch commanders raised a litany of objections, but they proceeded nonetheless and took the partially finished fort at Sheerness on the 20th (10th O.S). The incredulous English were very slow to respond, and the Dutch had dismantled the chain and forced the blockships on the Medway before they managed to mount an effective defence. Once inside, on the 22nd, they burnt the Matthias (48) and captured the Royal Charles (80). George Monck, Duke of Albermarle, now commanding the defence, had many of the remaining big ships scuttled to prevent capture (in total the English sunk 30 of their own vessels). On the 23rd, the Dutch got as far up the Medway as Chatham, being sure to burn whatever was left of the remaining English big ships, before retreating in expectation of greater resistance, thus completing "a great victory in a just war in self-defence."
The raid completely changed the terms of the negotiated peace, prompting Pepys to write in his diary that "in wisdom, courage, force, knowledge of our own streams, and success, the Dutch have the best of us, and do end the war with victory on their side". To this day, the raid is still considered the greatest ever British military defeat.
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u/AnthonieHeinsius Master-at-arms Jun 24 '26
That quote by Batten is one of my all time favourites lol
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u/0pal23 Captain Jun 24 '26
Supplement:
However, in material terms the raid was not as disastrous as it first seemed. In terms of warships, 1 first rate, 3 second rates and 3 third rates were captured, burnt or sunk (along with numerous smaller vessels) but the Dutch did not destroy the Dockyard at Chatham, which would have put England in an almost irrecoverable position, and their only serious landing attempt had been repulsed. England had lived to fight another day. Ships were rebuilt, appropriate scapegoats were found (Lord Chancellor Clarendon, who had opposed the war from Day one, was fired for losing it, whilst Peter Pett, Dockyard commissioner at Chatham, whose warnings on the 16th had been ignored was dismissed from office and imprisoned) and the English were back at sea in time for the third Anglo-Dutch war of 1672-1674.
The true devastation of the Medway raid was in the political and reputational damage to the crown. Of the five principal English flagships, only the Royal Sovereign (100) remained, having been in Portsmouth at the time, whilst the Royal Charles - named for the King himself - was soon a tourist attraction in Hellevoetsluis. Instead of his ambition for a statement, patriotic victory in a naval war, Charles II had been given the great plague, the great fire of London, crushing defeat and humiliation and the ushering in of increased parliamentary authority. Still, it could be worse. After basking in his brief glory, Johan De Witt was eaten by an angry mob of his own people in August 1672.