In June 1667, the diarist John Evelyn sat on “the hill above Gillingham” watching the greatest humiliation ever inflicted on the English navy.
Many of the king’s best ships were burning, sunk or being towed away before his eyes, as the Dutch fleet sailed almost unopposed up the river Medway.
“The Dutch … were fallen on our fleet at Chatham, by a most audacious enterprise, entering the very river with part of their fleet,” Evelyn wrote, “doing us not only disgrace, but incredible mischief in burning several of our best men-of-war lying at anchor and moored there, and all this through our unaccountable negligence in not setting out our fleet in due time.”
The king’s flagship, the Royal Charles, was among those captured and towed away by the Dutch: for a time it became a tourist attraction in the Netherlands, before it was broken up and the lion and unicorn transom carving displayed as a trophy.
Evelyn’s diary will return to the scene of the disaster this summer, on loan from the British Library to an exhibition at the Historic Dockyard Chatham, one of a string of events planned across both banks of the Medway in June to mark – “celebrate” is perhaps the wrong word – the 350th anniversary of the debacle.
There will be events on and around the river, including “living history” days at Upnor Castle, where the garrison tried to fight off the invasion before the Dutch ships broke the chain barrier across the river and sailed on – and fireworks, art installations, films and exhibitions. A fleet of Dutch ships sailing up the Medway is being organised by Frits de Ruyter de Wildt, a descendant of the Dutch commander – “this time by invitation”, he said.
The dockyard was spared through the loss of more ships, deliberately scuttled by the English to block the river. The poet Andrew Marvel wrote bitterly “of all our navy none should now survive, but that the ships themselves were taught to dive”.
The three-day attack is politely referred to as the Battle of Medway on the English side; on the Dutch side, where the triumphant officers were rewarded with gold chains and goblets, it’s known as the trip to Chatham.
Sitting on his hill, Evelyn was convinced the Dutch would reach London, and arranged “to send away my best goods, plate etc, from my house to another place. The alarm was so great that it put both country and city into fear, panic and consternation such as I hope I shall never see more: everybody was flying, none knew why or whither.”
Evelyn, who had been working with prisoners and injured sailors throughout the war with the Dutch, sent news and a sketch of the scene to his fellow diarist Samuel Pepys, a naval administrator. Pepys also sent his family and his cash out of London, and wrote: “All our hearts do now ake; for the news is true that the Dutch have broke the chain and burned our ships.”
The raid happened when the royal coffers were almost emptied by the twin disasters of the great plague and the Great Fire of London in 1666, but it led to the rebuilding and reorganisation of the navy.
The diary, along with international loans including from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, will be on display at the dockyard from 8 June until September. The main festival will run from 8-17 June.
