More information : Prior History:
SINT MATHEEUS, present at the Battle of Dover (Battle of Goodwin Sands) 1652, and at the Battle of the Gabbard, where her commanding officer failed to join battle and was dismissed the service. (6)
Taken at the Battle of the Gabbard and during the Second Anglo-Dutch War present at the Four Days' Battle in 1666, after which she was commissioned as a guardship at Chatham. She then took part in the St. James's Day Battle before being fired during the Raid on the Medway. (7)
Primary Sources:
June 15. London. — to Viscount Conway.
There has been such an alarm that the fear of a press of horses has emboldened him to send two of his to his lordship's stables for six or eight days. The Dutch, after easily beating off Sir Edw. Spragg from Sheerness Fort, which was not in a posture of defence (for which Sir Edward is much blamed), forced the chain, which some say was fastened with cable yarn, and came up. Ten frigates and as many fire-ships burned the AMITY [sic] and MATTHIAS. (8)
'Whitehall, June 16. . . the Enemy taking the advantage of an Easterly Wind and the Tide, which both served them, pressed on . . . notwithstanding a stout resistance, in which our Men shewed infinite courage, with considerable loss to the Enemy, yet they clapt their Fireships aboard the MATTHIAS and the UNITY, that lay at an anchor, as a Guard to the Chain, and then upon the CHARLES THE FIFTH, all three of them Dutch Ships, that had been formerly taken from them.' (9)
June [20.] Whitehall. Hen. Muddiman to Sir George Cooke, at Wheatley, Doncaster. News-letter.
. . . on the 11th, by degrees got 20 or 22 ships over the narrow part of the river at Chatham, where ships had been sunk; after 2½ hours' fighting, one guard ship after another was fired and blown up, and the enemy master of the chain. They then took the ROYAL CHARLES, quenching the flames, though she stranded, and also the MATTHIAS, CHARLES V, and AMITY. (10)
July 9. The DIAMOND. Sir Edw. Spragg to the Navy Com[missione]rs.
Recommends Mr. Flatman, surgeon of the MATTHIAS, for more than ordinary consideration; he lost his chest and clothes on board the ship in the last attempt made by the Dutch at Chatham, and was forced to swim for his life, being much scalded and burnt; he was surgeon to Sir Christopher Mings, and has since been with the writer. [Adm. Paper.] (11)
Pictorial Sources:
This print, labelled with a numbered key, shows the MATTHIAS at No.15, and is annotated: 'De Brander PRO PATRIA zeilt de Kettingh aan stukken en verbrandt de MATTHIAS met 52 stucken.'
'The fireship PRO PATRIA sails into the chain, breaking it into pieces, and sets the MATTHIAS, of 52 guns, on fire.' (12)
The MATTHIAS is depicted on the Gillingham side. (12)
Archaeological Remains:
A .55 calibre flintlock pistol with brass details and an iron barrel with iron tang was allegedly found on the ship ST MATTHIAS sunk in St Mary's Creek, Chatham. An entry from the catalogue of the Royal Naval exhibition of 1891 states:
'3341: Pistol found in a ship which was discovered in St Mary's Creek, Chatham and which is supposed to be the ST MATHIAS sunk during the descent made by the Dutch on Chatham'. (14)
A wooden box, lined inside with baize, with a hinged lid, said to have been built out of wood found from the Dutch ship MATTHIAS or CHARLES V. Inside the lid bears the legend:
'This Box was part of the MATTHIAS or CHARLES THE VTH Dutch Men-of -war which were sunk in St Mary's Creek, Chatham, in the year 1667 when the Dutch Fleet came up the Medway in that year and was found by a party of convicts during the excavating of the new docks and Basins at the Extension Works St Mary's Island HM Dockyard Chatham in the year 1876. Thos Luker. Metropolitan Police.' (15)
Secondary Sources:
Indexed as MATTHIAS. In JUN-1667, during the Second Dutch War, the Dutch fleet, under de Ruyter and de Witt(e), sailed into the rivers Thames and Medway to attack the English fleet laid up in their own harbours. On 10-JUN they attacked the fort at Sheerness, driving off the garrison and landing troops. They advanced up the Medway to the protective chain across the river at Upnor. (1)
Spelt variously as MATHIAS and MATTHIAS, this Dutch prize taken into the Royal Navy was moored at the southern end of the defence boom chain at Gillingham, when she was attacked by the Dutch fireship PRO PATRIA, which set her on fire. She burnt fiercely before blowing up and sinking. (1)(2)
MATHIAS, 48 guns, captured 1653. Blown up 12-JUN-1667 by the Dutch at Chatham. (3)
MATHIAS prize, captured 1653, 108 feet length x 32 feet beam. Burnt by the Dutch 1667. (4)
On Tuesday 11 June the guardships lying just above the chain were the CHARLES V and MATTHIAS, while the UNITY which had arrived from Sheerness too late to be brought above the chain, was moored just below it.
The CHARLES V and MATTHIAS were positioned so that they could bring their broadsides to bear on the chain.
John Evelyn made a sketch on the hill above Gillingham, near the church, entitled: "A Scheme of the Posture of the Dutch Fleete and action at Sherenesse and Chatham 10th, 11th, and 12th of June 1667, taken upon the place by J.E." It showed the chain, with the UNITY moored on the Gillingham side, just below it and with the CHARLES V and MATTHIAS just above it. The MONMOUTH lay beyond them in Gillingham Reach, and then above her, stretching as far as Rochester Bridge, the ROYAL CHARLES, MARY [SANCTA MARIA], ROYAL OAK, LOYAL LONDON, ROYAL JAMES, CATHERINE, PRINCESS, OLD JAMES, GUIDEN RYTER [GELDERSE RUYTER] TRIUMPH, RAINBOW, UNICORN, HENRY, HELVERSON [HILVERSUM] and VANGUARD.
The Dutch advance party under Captain Tobiasz. moved the EDWARD AND EVE, sunk earlier that day, to allow a gap through the blockships. They were then forced to anchor and wait for the flood tide before proceeding further in the early morning of 12-JUN-1667. Tobiasz. led the party in the BESCHERMING, followed by the yachts and the two fireships, the SUSANNA and PRO PATRIA. Due to the narrowness of the channel the Dutch proceeded virtually 'single file', approaching Gillingham at about 10am.
At the chain van Brakel in the VREDE sailed straight for the UNITY, captured and boarded her. Two fireships followed her, the first being the SUSANNA, which sailed straight for the chain but failed to break through. She was followed by the PRO PATRIA, which 'rode hard at the chain, and broke it'. The PRO PATRIA then sailed up to the MATTHIAS, setting her on fire near the Gillingham shore. 'She burned furiously for a while, and then, with a huge detonation, blew up. Some of her crew, including the surgeon, were badly burned, but rescued from the water by the boatswain in charge of the long-boat of the TRIUMPH, who was sent by Sir Edward Spragge to pick up survivors.'
On 17 August 1667 James Norman, Clerk of the Survey at Chatham, sent Pepys a detailed account of the financial losses sustained in the loss of the ships in the Medway.
The MATTHIAS was noted as 'destroyed' and valued at £800.* (5)
*Referenced to Rawlinson MS A.195 ff.106-7.
Interpretation of Location:
According to (5), the UNITY was too late from Sheerness to the east to be moored 'above' the chain, so was moored below it. In other words, she lay east of the chain, and thus the CHARLES V and the MATTHIAS lay west of the chain. This appears to be borne out by the description of Evelyn's map in (5), and the fact that as soon as the PRO PATRIA broke through the chain from the east she engaged the MATTHIAS. (5) The engagement is depicted on the Gillingham side in (12), thus just west of the chain on the Gillingham side. (13)
Built: Netherlands (1)(2)
Acquired: 1666 (2); 1653 (1)(3)
Master: Captain Henry Millett, RN (1)(2)
Owner: Royal Navy (1)(2)
Armament: 38 to 52 guns (4); 48 cannon (3); 54 cannon (1)(2)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss |