Raid on the Medway

The Raid on the Medway was a naval engagement during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

The Second Anglo- Dutch War.

The king of England's fleet had already been reduced to accomodate the restrictions of recent expenditure and the Dutch seized their opportunity well. Sir Edward Spragge learned that a Dutch raiding party had come ashore on the Isle of Grain. (a peninsular where the river Medway in Kent, meets the river Thames). Musketeers from the Sheerness garrison opposite were sent to investigate, as reports were widespread of a Dutch fleet in the the Thames. 

Charles II instructed the Duke of Albemarle (Lord George Monck) to go to Chatham to take charge of matters and further ordered Prince Rupert to organize the defences at Woolwich, three days later.

Commissioner Pett, at Chatham Dockyard sent a pessimistic message to the Navy Board prompted by the arrival of Van Ghent's squadron off Sheerness. The Dutch fleet carried about a thousand soldiers, and landing parties were dispatched on Canvey Island in Essex and opposite on the Kent side at Sheerness. In letters to the Navy Board Pett lamented the absence of Navy senior officials whose help and advice he believed he needed.

As events progressed two members of the Navy Board, Sir John Mennes and Lord Brouncker, travelled to Chatham, followed on the 11th June by the Duke of Albemarle. When Albemarle arrived he reported that he could find only twelve of the eight hundred Dockyard men expected.

After raising the alarm on the 6th June at Chatham dockyard, Pett seems not to have taken any further action until 9th when, late in the afternoon a fleet of about 30 Dutch ships were sighted in the Thames, at this point the Commissioner immediately sought assistance from the Admiralty. 

The additional command structure was to become unwieldy early on leading to instructions being countermanded by various officers, even conflicting instructions were given, leading to great confusion all round.

The Dutch fleet arrived at the Isle of Sheppey on the 10th June, and launched an attack on Sheerness Fort. Captain Jan van Brakel in the Vrede, followed by two other men-of-war, sailed as close to the fort as possible to engage it with cannon fire. Sir Edward Spragge was in command of the ships at anchor in the river Medway and those off Sheerness, but the only ship able to defend against the Dutch was the Unity, a frigate stationed off the fort.

The Unity was supported with a number of ketches and fire ships at Garrison Point, and the incomplete Fort of Sheerness where sixteen guns had been hastily placed. The Unity fired one broadside at the approaching Dutch, but then, when a blazing Dutch fireship bore down on her, she beat a retreat up the Medway, followed by the English fire ships and ketches. The unremitting Dutch assault on the Fort led it to be finally abandoned, it having been discovered that some 800 Dutch troops had landed about a mile away. With Sheerness thus lost, Spragge sailed up river for Chatham.

Pett proposed that several small ships be sunk in Upnor Reach near the castle, presenting another barrier to the Dutch should they break through the chain at Gillingham. The defensive chain placed across the river had been lying practically nine feet under the water between its stages owing to its weight. River defences were hastily improvised with 'blockships' sunk, and the chain across the river was guarded by batteries.

The positions of the Charles V and the Matthias just above the chain were adjusted to enable them to bring their broadsides to bear upon it. The Monmouth was also moored above the chain, positioned so that she could bring her guns to bear on the space between the Charles V and Matthias.

De Ruyter advanced up the Medway on June 12th passing Upnor Castle with scant opposition attacking any ships lying above that point. The following day the whole of the Thames side as far up as London was in a panic and some of the finest vessels in the navy, including the Royal James, the Loyal London, and the Royal Oak, perished, while the Royal Charles, was captured and carried off. 

The following day Pepys writes of the Royal Charles being taken "..which Pett should have carried up higher by our several orders, and deserves therefore to be hanged for not doing it."

He later concedes that impression given him by Naval Captains that "...nothing but carelessness lost the (Royal Charles), for they might have saved her..., if they ... had but boats, and that the want of boats plainly lost all the other ships.

On Tuesday morning the Royal Charles had been moved higher up the river with the help of a pilot. The Royal Charles, had remained exposed at her moorings for want of the boats and crews Pett needed to remove her, these having been sent on other tasks. Some shipwrights with their boats and crews were allocated to carry out the operation which was ordered by Peter Pett and during the morning of 11th Jun, with the Royal James taken up to a new position just above Upnor Castle.

It was commonly understood that Charles himself was at fault for his failure to prepare the fleet, it was said "they did in open streets yesterday at Westminster, cry. 'A Parliament! a Parliament!'; and I do believe it will cost blood to answer for these miscarriages": (Pepys). 

It is doubtful that the Dutch would have been able to reach Chatham at all if Sheerness Fort had been completed, a Parliamentary report on the occasion concluded that the sinking and burning of what ships remained at Chatham was the only means available of preventing the Dutch from gaining control of the Medway on this very account. 

Significantly upon the following day "Word was brought me that Commissioner Pett is brought to the Tower and there laid up close prisoner which puts me into a fright, lest they may do the same with us as they do with him. This puts me upon hastening what I am doing with my people, and collecting out of my papers our defence" (Pepys).

Commissioner Pett was bailed at £5000/~ and deprived of his Office whilst those who had ignored his earlier warnings quietly escaped any blame. Pett was thus compelled to defended his own actions and stood alone, discredited for the negligence of others.

The Dutch Admiral De Ruyter had after all captured Sheerness Fort a full two days prior to his invasion of the Medway, having broken through the heavy chain that was strung across the river representing its meagre outer defences. 

‘On the 13th June, when (the) Dutch frigates and sloops led the Fleet up the river, Upnor Castle was fired upon and the Castle batteries returned the ship’s fire. The Dutch lost ten ships, but their advance was not halted and four English ships lying of Upnor Castle were sunk or burnt. The Dutch sailed on towards Rochester, where the inhabitants had fled into the countryside.’ Peypes visited the Castle on behalf of the Admiralty, after the engagement and was forced to concede that the fort had been under gunned and garrisoned.

It seems that the boats and crews nominated by Pett to move the Royal Charles, were taken from that task and commanded elsewhere by the Duke of Albemarle himself that Tuesday 11th June 1667. Most of the other ships and boats had already been lost in the panic that prevailed when the news reached Chatham that the Dutch were at Sheerness. 

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In a sketch made by John Evelyn on the hill above Gillingham the ships in the Medway were all recorded in detail, including the chain, with the Unity moored just below it, with the Charles V and Matthias moored just above it. The Monmouth lay just beyond them in Gillingham Reach, and above her, as far as Rochester Bridge was the Royal Charles, Sancta Maria, Royal Oak, Loyal London, Royal James, Catherine, Princess, Old James, Triumph, Rainbow, Unicorn, Henry, and Vanguard; also two former Dutch vessels, the Guilden Ryiter and the Helverson.

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External link Ref: Day by day account:
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