London. Visscher (Nicolas), Afbeeldinge vande Rivieren van London en Rochester, 1667

Sold for £340

London. Visscher (Nicolas), Afbeeldinge vande Rivieren van London en Rochester, Amsterdam, 1667, uncoloured broadsheet with an engraved map with explanatory text in Dutch below the map, additional title below map 'Kaerte van de Rivieren van London en Rochester of Chetham...', trimmed to image, laid on contemporary paper, 410 x 290 mm, together with London Ward Plans. A collection of nine ward plans, published in 'The London Magazine', circa 1770, uncoloured engraved ward plans, old folds, each approximately 180 x 235 mm, with A Map of the Surrey side of the Thames from Westminster Bridge to the Borough. With a plan for laying out the Roads & Black Fryars Bridge, The London Magazine, circa 1770, uncoloured map, old folds, 260 x 205 mm with another copy similar, plus Hughes (W.). The Environs of London, circa 1848, two uncoloured engraved maps, published for James Barclay's/Thomas Moule's 'Barclay's Dictionary...', each 165 x 220 mm, and Weller (Edward). Suburbs of London, Sheet 3 Bromley, Blackwell &c [and] Suburbs of London, Sheet 4, Hammersmith &c, The Weekly Dispatch', circa 1860, two uncoloured plans of parts of London, some creasing, each approximately460 x 310 mm

(Qty: 16)

The first described item celebrated 'The Raid on the Medway', during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667. This was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At the time, the fortress of Upnor Castle and a barrier chain called the "Gillingham Line" were supposed to protect the English ships. The Dutch, under the nominal command of Willem Joseph van Ghent and Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, over several days bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the Thames estuary to Gravesend, then sailed into the River Medway to Chatham and Gillingham, where they engaged fortifications with cannon fire, burned or captured three capital ships and ten more ships of the line, and captured and towed away the flagship of the English fleet, HMS Royal Charles. Politically, the raid was disastrous for King Charles's war plans and led to a quick end to the war and a favourable peace for the Dutch. It was one of the worst defeats in the Royal Navy's history, and one of the worst suffered by the British military. Horace George Franks called it the "most serious defeat it has ever had in its home waters."