In 1666 the “Great Fire of London” began and blazed for three days.

Just the previous year in April 1665 King Charles II of England had warned the Lord Mayor of London the possible destruction that would be caused by a fire in the narrow streets of London; each building with overhanging wooden roofs. The added danger was caused by the long hot summer of 1666 which had completely dried the wooden framed roofs, perfect fuel for a fire, and depleted reservoirs.

It was the King’s Baker, Thomas Farynor, that first noticed the fire at around 2:00 am on the morning of the 2^nd of September 1666. The fire had started in his shop in pudding lane and he quickly alerted the members of his household. All but a frightened maid escaped across the roof of the building, hotly pursued by the expanding fire (the maid is believed to have been the first victim). By the morning London Bridge was on fire but thanks to the design of the bridge the fire didn’t spread completely across. It destroyed the north half of the bridge but thankfully was unable to spread the fire to south London. Nonetheless the flaming destruction destroyed much of North London. By the time the blaze was extinguished on the 5^th of September 1666 some 70,000 houses of London’s 80,000 residents were destroyed as well as St Pauls Cathedral and other landmark buildings.

The “Great Fire of London” had much further reaching consequences than the inhabitants of the capital. On the 4^th of March 1665 the “Second Anglo-Dutch War” broke out and while the Netherlands continued building their navy, using money supplied by their trade routes, the “Great Plague of London hit the same year and killed 100,000 Brits and caused emense strain on the economy of Britain.

Although Britain was victorious in the early stages of the war particularly the Battle of Lowestoft on the 13th of June 1665 who destroyed many of the Dutch ships.  The Dutch soon replenished its lost ships, financed from its spice trade in the Far East. The Dutch Navy continued to grow in the fastest ship production program to date and an added threat revealed itself with the French plan to join with the Dutch against the English. The destruction caused by the Great Fire of London depleted the nations funds to such an extent that the Royal Navy could not compete with the Dutch.

On the 9th of June 1667 a Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames destroying the Royal Navy’s main Fleet as it was docked in Chatham. 13 British ships were destroyed and two, HMS Unity and HMS Royal Charles were captured by the Dutch. The defeat led to more favourable terms for the Dutch in the Treaty of Breda and was the worst defeat the Royal Navy had suffered.