In June 1667, the diarist John Evelyn sat on “the hill above Gillingham” watching the greatest humiliation ever inflicted on the English navy.
Many of the king’s best ships were burning, sunk or being towed away before his eyes, as the Dutch fleet sailed almost unopposed up the river Medway.
“The Dutch … were fallen on our fleet at Chatham, by a most audacious enterprise, entering the very river with part of their fleet,” Evelyn wrote, “doing us not only disgrace, but incred… (View original article)