17. The Daring Raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway was a daring surprise Dutch attack on England’s Royal Navy, that took place between June 9 – 14, 1667, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1665). Dutch warships brazenly sailed up the Medway River in Kent to fall upon English warships anchored in dockyards at Chatham and Gillingham. The result was one of the most impressive victories in Dutch history.
From the start of the war, things had been going badly for England. First, the country suffered the Great Plague that ravaged London in 1665-1666. Then came the Great Fire of London, in 1666. By 1667, England’s King Charles II was broke, unable to pay sailors, and desperately wanted out of the war. The Dutch, however, smarting from having lost the First Anglo-Dutch War a few years earlier, wanted to first inflict a crushing defeat on the English to even the score. That would then place them in a strong position to impose punitive peace terms on England.