The Dutch in the Medway 1667 (oil on panel)

burning of Sheerness, June 1667; Raid on the Medway; Battle of Medway; British Naval defeat; brought Second Anglo-Dutch War to an end; Raid on Chatham; Battle of Chatham; successful Dutch attack on the largest English naval ships, in the dockyards of the main naval base Chatham. The Dutch, under Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the River Thames to Gravesend, then up the River Medway to Chatham, where they burned three capital ships and ten lesser naval vessels and towed away the Unity and the Royal Charles, pride and flagship of the English fleet. It was the worst defeat in the Royal Navy's history, and one of the worst suffered by the British military