Maritime record TQ 77 SE 1424 - 1667 wreck of a Dutch fireship ('Schiedam') which was expended in engaging with the CHARLES V

Summary

1667 wreck of a Dutch fireship which was expended in engaging with the CHARLES V, the second such ship to do so after the DELFT, during the Raid on the Medway towards the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Constructed of wood, she was a sailing vessel. Status: Casualty

Location

Grid reference TQ 7619 7040 (point)
Map sheet TQ77SE
County KENT
Civil Parish GILLINGHAM, MEDWAY, KENT

Map

Type and Period (1)

Full Description

Primary Sources:

June [20.] Whitehall. Hen. Muddiman to Sir George Cooke, at Wheatley, Doncaster. News-letter.

On the 10th it [the Dutch fleet] came within shot of Sheerness, and after some hours took the guns, and 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. Nothing was now left to oppose them but works hastily thrown up, yet the courage of the English was such that they only dared on the 12th instant to fire three ships that lay close to them. Being fired on by guns from the platform and from Upnor Castle, and having suffered great loss, as confessed by the prisoners taken, they fired three of their own ships that were manned, left two stranded, and went. This surprise has caused the raising a platform at Woolwich with 60 pieces of ordnance, and the strengthening of Dover, Gravesend, &c. Ten new regiments are to be forthwith raised, under the Marquis of Worcester and others. (3)

Pictorial Sources:

A contemporary print of the Raid on the Medway, with a key, illustrates at No.17 'CAROLUS QUINTUS met 60 stucken door SCHIDAM [sic] verbrant'. (The CAROLUS QUINTUS [Charles V], of 60 guns, burnt by the SCHIDAM [sic].' (2)

This, then, would appear to name the second fireship which attacked the CHARLES V when the DELFT was sunk. (4)

Secondary Sources:

'A third Dutch fireship, the DELFT, which attempted to place herself alongside the other guardship by the chain, the CHARLES V, on the Hoo side of the river, was sunk by cannon-fire from that ship; but meanwhile another fireship managed to get alongside the CHARLES V and set her on fire.' (1)

Some Dutch fireship wrecks were recorded at Gillingham, which are likely to have been part of the attack on the chain. It is not clear which is which, nor whether they correspond precisely numerically with the ships expended in the attack on the chain. That being said (4), it is recorded in (1) that on 22 September 1669 the following wrecks were sold at auction, thus illustrating their continuing presence in the river:

The bottom of the bigger Dutch fireships at Gillingham, for £11; [note the plural]
The bottom of the smaller Dutch fireship at Gillingham, for £7;
The wreck of a Dutch fireship at Gillingham, for £21.

Those same wrecks were valued lower on 4 October 1669 in a report to the Navy Board:

The bottom of the bigger Dutch fireship at Gillingham, £6;
The bottom of the smaller Dutch fireship at Gillingham, £4;
The wreck of the Dutch fireship at Gillingham, £15.

Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss


<1> Rogers P G, 1970, The Dutch in the Medway (Bibliographic reference). SKE56188.

<2> Peter Higginbotham, 2000, The Workhouse, Tocht naar Chatham, 1667, print (Website). SKE56079.

<3> Calendar of State Papers Domestic, Charles II, 1667, Vol.205, No.58 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6354.

Sources/Archives (3)

  • <1> Bibliographic reference: Rogers P G. 1970. The Dutch in the Medway.
  • <2> Website: Peter Higginbotham. 2000. The Workhouse. Tocht naar Chatham, 1667, print.
  • <3> Bibliographic reference: Calendar of State Papers Domestic. Charles II, 1667, Vol.205, No.58.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (1)

  • Non-Intrusive Event: NHPP Naval Battlefields Project (EKE20884)

Record last edited

Jun 18 2024 2:43PM