 The painting Dutch attack on the Medway, June 1667 by Pieter Cornelisz van Soest, painted c. 1667 shows the captured HMS Royal Charles, right of center. The 80-gun warship Naseby was built by Peter Pett and launched at Woolwich dockyard in 1655 and originally named in honour of Oliver Cromwell's decisive 1645 victory over the Royalist forces during the English Civil Wars. With the Restoration she was renamed HMS Royal Charles, and served as the ship that brought king Charles II back to England in 1660, captained by Sir Edward Montagu.
At 1,230 tons, Naseby was larger than Sovereign of the Seas, the first three-deck ship of the line, built by Phineas Pett, Peter's father. Unlike Sovereign of the Seas, Naseby was only to enjoy twelve years in service.
As Royal Charles she took part in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1665 she fought in the Battle of Lowestoft under the command of the Lord High Admiral, James Stuart, Duke of York, her captain being William Penn. In 1666, she was in two further actions, the inconclusive Four Days Battle and the defeat of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter in the St. James's Day Battle off the North Foreland.
In 1667 flagging English national esteem was further depressed by the raid on the Medway in which a Dutch fleet invaded the Thames and Medway rivers and captured Royal Charles, removing her with great skill to Hellevoetsluis in the United Provinces. The Dutch did not take her into naval service because it was considered that she drew too much water for general use on the Dutch coast. She was auctioned for scrap in 1673.
Her metal stern piece, showing the English coat of arms with a lion and unicorn along with the white ensign, is now on display in the Rijksmuseum at Amsterdam.
External links
- Royal Charles (http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_077800_hmsroyalchar.htm)
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