Raid on the Medway 1667: How the Dutch Broke the Chain at Chatham

June 1667: Michiel de Ruyter's fleet sails into the Thames and up the Medway, breaks the chain at Gillingham, captures England's flagship the Royal Charles and burns three of her greatest warships below Chatham. Ten months earlier, beaten at sea, De Ruyter had asked God why no bullet would take him. This is the Second Anglo-Dutch War's most daring stroke, and the man who took up his work again. The Dutch at Sea: Michiel de Ruyter, 1667. Next in the series: Kijkduin / Texel, 1673. IN THIS FILM • The Four Days' Battle and the St James's Day defeat of 1666, and De Ruyter's moment of despair • Holmes's Bonfire: English fireships and boats fall on some 150 merchantmen in the Vlie, then burn West-Terschelling • Sheerness taken, then the chain at Gillingham broken: Van Brakel boards the Unity, the fireship Pro Patria goes in • The Royal Charles captured, and the Royal Oak, Loyal London and Royal James burned past Upnor Castle CHAPTERS 0:00 The Great Ships Burning (23 June 1667) 1:07 I. The Year of Wonders (1666) 8:10 II. Two Clocks (Winter–Spring 1667) 11:49 III. The River of London (15–21 June 1667) 19:04 IV. The Chain (22 June 1667) 26:30 V. Upnor (22–23 June 1667) 32:43 VI. The Ebb (24 June–8 July 1667) 40:06 VII. The Reversal: Landguard Fort (12 July 1667) 42:29 VIII. The Hope (July–August 1667) 46:10 IX. Peace (Breda, 1667) 51:01 Epilogue: The Price of Glory Dates are New Style (Gregorian), as the Dutch kept them; English sources and Pepys give Old Style, 10 days earlier (the chain: 12 June 1667). SOURCES Primary: Gerard Brandt, Het leven en bedryf van den heere Michiel de Ruiter (1687); Samuel Pepys, Diary (June–October 1667); John Evelyn, Diary (1666–1667); The Duke of Albemarle's Narrative to the House of Commons (October 1667). Historians: P.G. Rogers, The Dutch in the Medway (1970); H.H. Rowen, John de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, 1625–1672 (1978); Gijs Rommelse, The Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) (2006); R. Prud'homme van Reine, Rechterhand van Nederland: biografie van Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (1996). CREDITS Narration: synthetic voice (Kokoro TTS). Research, script, animation and edit: Astrolabe. Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com): "Anguish", "Clash Defiant", "Crusade", "Five Armies", "Heroic Age", "Impact Prelude", "Moorland", "Oppressive Gloom", "Prelude and Action", "Stormfront", "Aftermath", "Dark Times", "Decisions", "Final Battle of the Dark Wizards", "Gathering Darkness", "Heart of Nowhere", "Suonatore di Liuto", "Colossus", "Death of Kings", "Lost Time", "For the Fallen". Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music: "Ach Gott vom Himmel, sieh darein" (J. P. Sweelinck), organ: Anthony Mark LaMort, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), via Internet Archive; re-encoded. Music: "Est-ce Mars" (J. P. Sweelinck), organ: Ashtar Moïra, CC BY 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), via Wikimedia Commons; converted to MP3, level adjusted. Music: "Mein junges Leben hat ein End" (J. P. Sweelinck), organ: Matthias Flierl, recording: Metzner, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa..., via Wikimedia Commons; trimmed, fade-out added. Music: "O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß" (EG 76; melody M. Greiter 1525, the Genevan Psalm 68 tune), organ: Volker Schöpfer, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), via Wikimedia Commons; re-encoded. Arranged for this film from public-domain melodies: "Wilhelmus", "Wilt heden nu treden" (Valerius 1626); Valerius settings by Peter Gerloff (CC0). Rendered with the GeneralUser GS SoundFont by S. Christian Collins. Sound effects from soundbible.com: "Crisp Ocean Waves", "Distant Thunder", "Sea Waves", "Ship Bell" by Mike Koenig (CC BY 3.0); "Flock Seagulls" by Daniel Simion (CC BY 3.0); "Hurricane" by Robinhood76 (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); "Wind" by Mark DiAngelo (CC BY 3.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. Other sound effects: generated with ElevenLabs, or public domain. Links for every credit: see the pinned comment. Period paintings, prints and maps: public domain / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, the Rijksmuseum, Royal Museums Greenwich and other collections (incl. Willem van de Velde the Younger, Willem van de Velde the Elder, Abraham Storck, Lieve Verschuier). Licence: because its soundtrack includes a CC BY-SA 3.0 recording, this film is shared under CC BY-SA 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa... Rendered with the Chronicle Engine: a custom engine that rebuilds each battle from the historical record (fleets, maps, terrain, wind and weather) and renders it in 4K. #history #documentary #NavalHistory