Raid on the Medway European history [1667] Actions Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/event/Raid-on-the-Medway Give Feedback External Websites Feedback Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Feedback Type Select a type (Required) Factual Correction Spelling/Grammar Correction Link Correction Additional Information Other Your Feedback Submit Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

　　External Websites Military History Encyclopedia on the Web - Dutch Raid on the Medway, 19-24 June 1667 Print Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/event/Raid-on-the-Medway Feedback External Websites Feedback Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Feedback Type Select a type (Required) Factual Correction Spelling/Grammar Correction Link Correction Additional Information Other Your Feedback Submit Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

　　External Websites Military History Encyclopedia on the Web - Dutch Raid on the Medway, 19-24 June 1667 Written by R.G. Grant R.G. Grant is a historian who has written extensively on many aspects and periods of history. R.G. Grant Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Jul 19, 2024 • Article History Table of Contents Date: June 12, 1667 - June 14, 1667 (Show more) Location: Chatham River Medway United Kingdom England (Show more) Participants: Dutch Republic England (Show more) Context: Anglo-Dutch Wars (Show more) See all related content → Ask a Question Ask a Question

　　The Raid on the MedwayThe Dutch Raid on the Medway, 1667, Low Countries, oil on panel by an anonymous artist, c.1670. Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. (SK-A-307)(more)On June 12–14, 1667, a Dutch fleet raided the royal dockyards of the River Medway, which meets the River Thames as it enters the ocean. It lay waste to the English fleet it found there. The Raid on the Medway was one of the deepest humiliations ever visited upon England and the Royal Navy. Although the material losses inflicted were grave, even more painful was the public proof that the English were powerless to defend their own coastline.

　　Anglo-Dutch Wars Events keyboard_arrow_left

　　Battle of Lowestoft June 13, 1665

　　Raid on the Medway June 12, 1667 - June 14, 1667

　　Treaty of Breda July 31, 1667

　　Battle of Texel August 21, 1673 keyboard_arrow_right Since the Second Anglo-Dutch War began in 1665, England had suffered a string of misfortunes, including the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. King Charles II, his treasury depleted, had no money to pay sailors or dockworkers. England was seeking peace desperately, but the Dutch government leader, Johan de Witt, wanted a crushing victory so he could impose punitive terms. He dispatched Admiral Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter to execute a daring plan: the Dutch fleet would first sail to the mouth of the Thames and then, guided by two English river pilots who had defected to the Dutch cause, would shift southward, taking Sheerness on the Medway and sailing inland toward the dockyard at Chatham to attack the English fleet.

　　The Dutch fleet, divided into three squadrons, was massive, numbering 64 ships of the line, nearly 30 smaller vessels, and some 17,500 sailors. The English blocked the navigable channel with a chain stretched from shore to shore, but Dutch engineers made short work of this obstacle. Beyond the chain, English ships with skeleton crews lay exposed to danger; the shore batteries were largely unmanned and initially without even a provision of gunpowder, as Admiral George Monck discovered when he arrived to assume command of the British defenses. Three “great ships”—the largest naval vessels—were scuttled hastily; a fourth, Royal Charles, was seized by the Dutch. The only resistance came from the shore batteries, now manned and provisioned, which sank a single Dutch fireship. As English militia forces began to arrive, however, de Ruyter withdrew on June 14, taking Royal Charles as a trophy. The Dutch burned the other ships they had captured. The Royal Navy itself had scuttled more ships farther up the Medway channel lest they fall into Dutch hands, disabling much of their own remaining fleet.

　　The shock of the action was great. Andrew Marvell would write, in a bitter poem, of “Our seamen, whom no danger’s shape could fright, / Unpaid refuse to mount our ships for spite.” Diarist Samuel Pepys, then secretary to the admiralty, thought the monarchy would fall. In fact, peace was made with limited advantage to the Dutch. England’s desire for revenge helped motivate another Anglo-Dutch War the following decade. The disaster also motivated the English to rebuild the Royal Navy, this time to such strength that only the French fleet rivaled it in size.