One of the more unfortunate events in the British naval history happened on 12 – 14th June. 1667, when a Dutch fleet sailed up the river Medway in Kent and destroyed several British ships laid up ijn Chatham Dockyard, capturing the "Royal Charles" – the pride of the navy, and sinking or burning three other great ships, - the "Royal James," "Royal Oake" and "Loyal London", (see picture above) and a number of others. Samuel Pepys wrote much about this unfortunate event in his Diary. The event was also commemorated more recently by Rudyard Kipling:
Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch Admiral
Michiel Adriaensz. De Ruyter was born in Vlissingen (Flushing). He went to the sea for the first time at he age of 11, serving for the Lampsins family. In 1621-1622 h...
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo-Dutch War (called the First Dutch War in England, and the First English War in the Netherlands) was the first of the four Anglo-Dutch Wars. It was fought...
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo-Dutch War was fought between England and the United Provinces from 4 March 1665 until 31 July 1667. England tried to end the Dutch domination of world tr...