More information : Primary Sources:
'On Thursday the 13 Instant, About One of the Clock, taking again their advantage of the Wind and the Tide, they advanced with six men-of-war and five Fire-ships and came up towards Upnor-Castle, but were so warmly entertained by Major Scot, who commanded there, and on the other side by Sir Edward Spragg from the Battery at the Shoare, that after very much Dammage received by them in the shattering of their Ships, in sinking several of their Long Boats manned out of them, in the great Number of their Men kill'd and some Prisoners taken, they were at the last forced to retire, having in this attempt spent in vain two of their Fire-Ships which attempted the ROYAL OAKE but were forced off and burnt down without any effect; but a third had its effect, the two others coming also aboard the ROYALL JAMES and the LOYALL LONDON, which are much injured by the fire but in probability may be again made serviceable, having been sunk before their coming up, and the greater part of them laid under water.' (4)
Sunday 13 June.
'Late at night comes Mr. Hudson, the cooper, my neighbour, and tells me that he come from Chatham this evening at five o'clock, and saw this afternoon the ROYAL JAMES, OAKE and LONDON, burnt by the enemy with their fire-ships . . . ' (8)
June 14. Chatham. Jno. Clapham to Sam. Pepys.
The enemy is expected on the return of the tide. Yesterday the ROYAL JAMES, ROYAL OAK, and LONDON were fired. Saw all three flaming . . . The enemy have lost five or six fire-ships, either by sinking or in executing their employ, and, as conjectured, a considerable number of men by the service of Upnor Castle. [Adm. Paper.] (9)
June 15. London. John Rushworth to Lady—.
The ROYAL CHARLES, STA. MARIA, ROYAL OAK, ROYAL JAMES, LOYAL LONDON, and UNITY, all great ships, are burned by the Dutch in Chatham River, besides two lesser ships, wherein were 500 men, all lost, and 12 more ships sunk in the river's mouth, to prevent the enemy coming in; yet they got over them and the chain too, and did this mischief. (10)
June 15. London. — to Viscount Conway.
. . . 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 and MATTHIAS. The Royal Charles, having 30 guns mounted, fired on them, but her ammunition was soon spent, so the Dutch took her, and put up their flag. Meanwhile the general caused the next ships, viz., the ROYAL JAMES, ROYAL OAK, LONDON, and two fire-ships, to be sunk, so the Dutch went away, carrying the CHARLES; she stuck, and they could not get her away that tide, but kept men aboard; they returned with Thursday's tide, but being unable to pass the sunken ships, stayed till the tide was half spent, and then burned the upper part of the OAK, JAMES, and LONDON. They made another attempt yesterday, but the general had so well provided that they were beaten off, and the same this morning; so they have left the river, and it is said fired the CHARLES at last. (11)
June 26. Sir Wm. Coventry to the Navy Com[missione]rs.
His Royal Highness has been told that the bottoms of the ROYAL JAMES and LONDON may be built upon, and if freed from their ballast and guns, would float so as to be brought into the Thames: they are to consider thereon, and report. (12)
Sunday 30 June.
'Up about three o'clock, and Creed and I got ourselves ready, and took coach at our gate . . . without any stop, got to Rochester about ten of the clock . . . Thence by barge, it raining hard, down to the chaine; and in our way did see the sad wrackes of the poor ROYALL OAKE, JAMES, and LONDON . . . ' (13)
July 11. Chatham. John Conny to Williamson.
The bottom of the ROYAL JAMES is got afloat, and those of the LOYAL LONDON and ROYAL OAK soon will be so. (14)
May 1. Chatham. Commissioner Cox to the Navy Commissioners.
. . . asking that Mr. Boys be sent down about breaking up the wrecks he bought long since, and reminding them to decide what is to be done with the wrecks of the DEFIANCE and ROYAL OAK. (15)
May 10. Chatham. Commissioner Cox to the Navy Commissioners.
. . . I know no prejudice the wrecks of the DEFIANCE and ROYAL OAK do this river, but the longer they lie the worse they will be, and that of the ROYAL OAK must be taken to pieces if ever thought fit to be built on, and also the DEFIANCE if she lie much longer. (16)
May 24. The Navy Commissioners to the Duke of York. The multiplicity of the matters has caused the delay in reporting the results of our inquiries and calculations directed by the King, for guiding him and the Lords of the Treasury to the determination of the sum to be provided for discharging the naval debt yet unsatisfied on last year's service, and for the necessary charge of the current year, which we now lay before you:—
8. Rebuilding the wreck of the ROYAL OAK rigging her - £15,333 6s 8d. (17)
The poet Andrew Marvell included the action on the Medway in his poem "Last Instructions to a Painter":
'Each doleful day still with fresh loss returns:
The LOYAL LONDON now the third time burns,
And the true ROYAL OAK and ROYAL JAMES,
Allied in fate, increase, with theirs, her flames.
Of all our navy none should now survive,
But that the ships themselves were taught to dive,
And the kind river in its creek them hides,
Fraughting their piercèd keels with oozy tides.' (5)
Marvell also celebrated the courage of Captain Archibald Scott:
'Fixt on his shipp, he fought the horrid day,
And wondred much at those who ran away.
Nor other fear himself could comprehend;
Then, lest heaven fall ere thither he ascend,
But entertains the while his time too short
With birding at the Dutch, as if in sport,
Or waves his sword, and could he them conjure,
Within its circle, knows himself secure.
The fatall barke him boards with grapling fire,
And softly through its ports the Dutch retire.
That pretious life he still disdains to safe,
Or with known art to try the gentle wave.
Much him the Glories of his Ancient Race
Inspire, nor could he his own deedes deface.
And secret joy in his calm breast doth rise,
That Monck looks on to see how Douglas dies.
Like a glad lover the fierce flames he meets,
And tries their first embraces in their sheetts...
His burning locks adorn his face divine.
But when in this immortal mind he felt
His altering form and soldered limbs to melt,
Down on the deck he laid himself and died,
With his dear sword reposing by his side,
And on the flaming plank, so rests his head
As one that's warmed himself and gone to bed.
His ship burns down, and with his relics sinks,
And the sad stream beneath his ashes drinks.' (7)
Pictorial Sources:
A contemporary topographical Dutch print of the Raid, with a key to the chief ships and actions, depicts the ROYAL OAK, the Vice-Admiral of the White, as being burnt while lying to the west of Upnor Castle. She is depicted as the easternmost of the group of three, next to the LOYAL LONDON, and with the ROYAL JAMES beyond. (19)
Secondary Sources:
Date of the event given as 14-JUN-1667.
The final day of the raid on the Medway ports saw the Dutch consolidating their triumph. Those great ships they could not take away were destroyed.
Like the LOYAL LONDON, she lay below Chatham scuttled in shallow water and was burnt by the Dutch. The remains were ordered 15-JUL-1667 to be raised and broken up. (1)
Source (2) gives the date of loss as 13-JUN-1667.
The ROYAL OAK, 2nd Rate of 76 guns, built Portsmouth 1664, length 121 feet x 39 feet 10 inches beam, 1021 tons, was burnt by the Dutch in 1667. (3)
The diarist John Evelyn sketched the layout of the ships in the Medway and sent the sketch to Pepys, 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.
On the morning of Wednesday 13 June the Duke of Albemarle ordered the LOYAL LONDON, ROYAL JAMES and ROYAL OAK to be moved from above Upnor Castle to the Upnor bank of the Medway until they ran aground in shallow water, and this was accordingly executed.
The Dutch took a council of war before launching an attack on Upnor Castle with four men-of-war and three armed yachts, to draw the fire away from the planned attack of five fireships on the LOYAL LONDON, ROYAL JAMES and ROYAL OAK.
The ROTTERDAM grappled the LOYAL LONDON, followed by two other fireships, each of which followed suit with the ROYAL JAMES and the ROYAL OAK respectively. However, although it only took one fireship for the ROYAL OAK to blaze fiercely, the Dutch sent another two against the LOYAL LONDON and ROYAL JAMES. They were all burnt down to the waterline.
The response of Edward Gregory, Clerk of the Check at Chatham, to Pepys was as follows: ' . . . itt certainly made the heart of every true Englishman bleede, to see such three Argos's lost . . . '
By contrast, Engel de Ruyter, son of Admiral de Ruyter, wrote that it had been a joy to see.
Captain Archibald Douglas's death in the fire on the ROYAL OAK, in contrast to those who deserted their posts aboard the three fired men-of-war, was celebrated by contemporaries, including William Temple, who wrote:
"I would have been glad to see Mr. Cowley before he died, celebrate Captain Douglas his death, who stood and burnt in one of our ships at Chatham, when his soldiers left him because it should never be said a Douglas quitted his post without order. Whether it be wise in men to such action or no, I'm sure it is so in States, to honour them." '
Otherwise there were no casualties, suggested as a case of desertion of the soldiers on board each ship as the fires took hold.
In the aftermath of the Raid Pepys commissioned James Norman, Clerk of the Survey at Chatham, to assess the financial impact of the damage. In a document of 17 August 1667 (Rawlinson MS A, 195, ff.106-7) Norman deferred to Pepys in assessing the value of the three capital ships but did estimate the worth of their destroyed stores as £1,000.
On 19 July the dockyard officials at Chatham believed that it would be possible to remove all three ships, the LOYAL LONDON, ROYAL JAMES, and ROYAL OAK to London, to be rebuilt, but the ROYAL OAK persisted as a wreck in the Medway as late as May 1671. (6)
Present at the Battle of Lowestoft, Four Days' Battle, and St. James's Day Fight prior to the Raid on the Medway. Her commander was Joseph Jordan, Rear-Admiral of the White. (18)
Built: 1664 (1)(2)(3)(18)
Where Built: Portsmouth (1)(2)(3)(18)
Armament: 76 guns (1)(3)
Commanding Officer: Joseph Jordan, Rear-Admiral of the White (18)
Lives Lost: Captain Douglas + some of his Scottish detachment (5)(6)
Owner: Royal Navy (1)(2)(3)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss |