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, and Amity. Nothing was now left to oppose them but works hastily thrown up . . . ' (3)

Pictorial Sources:

A contemporary Dutch topographical print of the action on the Medway illustrates at No.16 "De Brander de CATHARINA wert in de gront geschoten" ("The fireship CATHARINA took the ground").

She is depicted on the Medway near the defensive chain (1584707), just east of the chain: at No.15 the PRO PATRIA is shown breaking the chain. (1)

John Evelyn's contemporary sketch of the Medway showing the relative location of all the ships and wrecks in the river [Rawlinson MS A.195, f.78, Bodleian Library, Oxford], is reproduced in (2). It depicts an otherwise unrecorded CATHERINE at No.15, "sunke", but this appears to be off Upnor. (2)

Documentary Evidence:

Secondary Sources:

There was a Dutch fireship sold as a "wreck" (as distinct from a "bottom", which appears to refer to those expended) "at Gillingham". She was sold at auction on 22 September 1669, for £21, although her value was appraised in a letter to the Navy Board on 4 October 1669 as £15. (2)

Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss

<1> Peter Higginbotham, 2000, The Workhouse, prints (Website). SKE56079.

<2> Rogers P G, 1970, The Dutch in the Medway (Bibliographic reference). SKE56188.

<3> Calendar of State Papers Domestic, Charles II, 1667, Vol.206, No.100 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6354.