Editing Samuel Pepys (section)

====Second Anglo-Dutch War====

[[File:Dutch Attack on the Medway, June 1667 van Soest RMG BHC0295.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|''[[Dutch Attack on the Medway]], June 1667'' by [[Pieter Cornelisz van Soest]], painted {{circa|1667}}. The captured English ship [[HMS Royal Charles (1650)|''Royal Charles'']] is right of centre.]]

In early 1665, the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War placed great pressure on Pepys. His colleagues were either engaged elsewhere or incompetent, and Pepys had to conduct a great deal of business himself. He excelled under the pressure, which was extreme due to the complexity and underfunding of the Royal Navy.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} At the outset, he proposed a centralised approach to supplying the fleet. His idea was accepted, and he was made surveyor-general of [[Food|victualling]] in October 1665. The position brought a further £300 a year.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}}

Pepys wrote about the Second Anglo-Dutch War: "In all things, in wisdom, courage, force and success, the Dutch have the best of us and do end the war with victory on their side". And King Charles II said: "Don't fight the Dutch, imitate them".

In 1667, with the war lost, Pepys helped to discharge the navy.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} The Dutch had defeated England on open water and now began to threaten English soil itself. In June 1667, they conducted their [[Raid on the Medway]], broke the defensive chain at [[Gillingham, Kent|Gillingham]], and towed away the {{HMS|Royal Charles|1660|2}}, one of the Royal Navy's most important ships. As he had done during the Fire and the Plague, Pepys again removed his wife and his gold from London.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}}

The Dutch raid was a major concern in itself, but Pepys was personally placed under a different kind of pressure: the Navy Board and his role as Clerk of the Acts came under scrutiny from the public and from Parliament. The war ended in August and, on 17 October, the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] created a committee of "miscarriages".{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} On 20 October, a list was demanded from Pepys of ships and commanders at the time of the division of the fleet in 1666.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} However, these demands were actually quite desirable for him, as tactical and strategic mistakes were not the responsibility of the Navy Board.

The Board did face some allegations regarding the Medway raid, but they could exploit the criticism already attracted by Commissioner of [[Chatham Dockyard|Chatham]] [[Peter Pett (shipwright, died 1672)|Peter Pett]] to deflect criticism from themselves.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} The committee accepted this tactic when they reported in February 1668. The Board was, however, criticised for its use of tickets to pay seamen. These tickets could only be exchanged for cash at the Navy's treasury in London.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} Pepys made a long speech at the bar of the Commons on 5 March 1668 defending this practice. It was, in the words of C. S. Knighton, a "virtuoso performance".{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}}

The commission was followed by an investigation led by a more powerful authority, the commissioners of accounts. They met at Brooke House, [[Holborn]] and spent two years scrutinising how the war had been financed. In 1669, Pepys had to prepare detailed answers to the committee's eight "Observations" on the Navy Board's conduct. In 1670, he was forced to defend his own role. A seaman's ticket with Pepys' name on it was produced as incontrovertible evidence of his corrupt dealings but, thanks to the intervention of the king, Pepys emerged from the sustained investigation relatively unscathed.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}}