The Second Anglo-Dutch War was nearing its end when Lieutenant Admiral of Holland and Commander in Chief of the Dutch Navy Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter sailed into the Thames Estuary with a fleet of 24 ships-of-the-line, 20 smaller vessels, and 15 fireships in early June 1667.
Morale in the Dutch fleet was high, in sharp contrast to that of the sailors who manned the Royal Navy. In 1665, the English had suffered the worst plague since the Black Death of 1348, losing 15 percent of London’s population and prompting famed diarist Samuel Pepys to record “how empty the streets and how melancholy.” The following year brought the Great Fire of London, which ravaged 436 acres of the capital city and destroyed more than 13,000 houses. Sailors in the Royal Navy carried the extra demoralizing burden of having difficulty feeding their families since the Treasury had been suffering a serious cash crisis and for some time had been issuing English sailors IOUs instead of money.
Negotiations for a peace treaty had begun, and the Dutch saw the opportunity to strengthen their position by mounting this bold attack into the very heart of maritime Britain. After capturing a defensive fort at Sheerness, where the River Medway joins the Thames, de Ruyter turned his fleet into the Medway and headed upstream toward the British dockyards at Chatham. The Dutch fleet sailed unopposed until it reached Gillingham, where a strong iron chain had been stretched across the river supported by a series of pontoons. Undaunted, Dutch fireships smashed through the chain, and the ship-of-the-line Vrede attacked and captured the British frigate HMS Unity before moving on to destroy the British guardship Matthias and capture the ship-of-the-line Charles V.
The rest of the British fleet in the Medway was now virtually defenseless. De Ruyter’s fleet advanced on the docks at Chatham and captured the first-rate ship-of-the-line Royal Charles and burned the third-rate Monmouth, the 100-gun Royal Oak, and the second-rate ships Loyal London and Royal James. Many other ships were forced to run aground to save themselves from destruction.
By 13 June, London was in a panic. Rumors of all manner of coming catastrophes spread, and many of the wealthy fled with their most valuable possessions. Pepys’ diary confided, “And, the truth is, I do fear so much that the whole kingdom is undone.”
Withdrawing from the Medway, de Ruyter considered heading farther up the Thames toward London. But, with most of his fireships expended and word that British defenses were improving in that direction, he instead headed downstream to the mouth of the Thames, where he remained, blockading London until early July.
The Dutch fleet withdrew with the captured Royal Charles in tow, representing a special embarrassment to the British sovereign, King Charles II. The ship’s draft was too deep for the shallow Dutch waters, and she was permanently drydocked as a tourist attraction until she was later scrapped when Anglo-Dutch relations had improved.
British historian Peter Padfield described the Dutch victory in the Medway as “one of the most brilliant strokes with the most immediate and obvious effects in the history of naval warfare.” Total losses for the Dutch were eight spent fireships and about 50 human casualties. The effects on the subsequent Treaty of Breda were very favorable to the Dutch, and de Ruyter was lionized as a result.
The Raid on the Medway was only one of many impressive accomplishments by Admiral De Ruyter. Self-described as “good for nothing but the sea,” he began his career as a boatswain’s boy at the age of 11 and spent the next 32 years in the merchant marine. He rose to first mate, then became “schipper” of a merchant vessel, served for a time in a whaler, and commanded a privateer. Sailing as a captain in the navy for the first time in 1641, he declared, “I shall act sincerely as an honest captain in the hope that God will bless the work we are sent out to do in honor of our dear Fatherland.”
De Ruyter’s patriotism and piety remained untarnished for the remainder of his career. In a biography written less than a decade after de Ruyter’s death, the Reverend Gerard Brandt wrote, “His unblemished valor, which he demonstrated in the face of critical dangers . . . would become apparent to friends and enemies in seven wars, more than forty engagements, and fifteen great sea battles, seven of them under his own command.”
De Ruyter indeed faced dangers many times, seeing action as young man that included being shot in the head and making a daring escape after capture by Spanish privateers. Most of his many battles were against the British in three of the four Anglo-Dutch Wars, but he also fought the Swedish and the French.
His glorious career ended when the Dutch government—now allied with their former British enemy—sent de Ruyter on an ill-conceived mission to aid in the defense of Sicily with a force too small for the task. Despite his misgivings about the expedition, de Ruyter said, “Where the gentlemen of the States trust their flag, I will risk my life.”
In the ensuing campaign, despite unfavorable odds, de Ruyter exploited the weather gage to close to point-blank range of the van of the French fleet. The resulting battle proved inconclusive but cost de Ruyter his life.
When the ship bearing de Ruyter’s body back to the Netherlands passed French ports, Louis XIV—despite being still at war with the Dutch—ordered gun salutes to be fired in honor of the fallen admiral. After a state funeral in Amsterdam, de Ruyter was interred in an imposing tomb with the inscription Intaminus Fulget Honoribus—“He Shines in Unblemished Honor.”
