Due to the their strategic location on the River Medway, the Medway towns of Chatham, Gillingham, Rochester, Rainham and Strood have a strong maritime history. Chatham Dockyard, established in 1567 and closed in 1984 was an important naval dockyard for over 400 years. It was defended on its approach by Upnor Castle, and later, Fort Amherst.
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), the diarist, who was appointed the Clerk of the Acts of the Navy Board, visited the Medway towns as part of his work. In 1661, he stayed at the Salutation Tavern, Rochester, where he was entertained with “with wine and oysters and other things”.1 On subsequent visits (1662, 1665 and 1667), he visited the Crown “for wine, supper and making merry”. It was during one of these visits that he walked to the castle ruins and “there going up I did upon the stairs overtake three pretty mayds or women and took them up with me, and I did ‘baiser sur mouches et toucher leur mains’ and necks to my great pleasure”.2 In June 1667, He stayed at the White Harte Inn but complained that he could get “no sheets to our bed, only linen to our mouths”.3
The towns have had an important role to play in Britain’s naval past. HMS Victory which served as Admiral Horatio Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 was built at Chatham Dockyard in 1765. Commissioned for service during the American Revolutionary War, the 104-gun wooden sailing ship was in use for 248 years. Not only this, but local navigators and naval officers have made their mark. William Adams (1564-1620), a naval navigator, who was born in Gillingham in 1564, was the first Englishman to reach Japan. After serving his apprenticeship with a shipyard owner at Limehouse, Adams joined the Royal Navy and fought against the Spanish Armada alongside Sir Francis Drake in 1588. After the battle he joined the Barbary Company and with Jan Joosten reached Japen in 1600. In 1605 he was appointed a high-ranking Samurai in the court of the Shogun and became known as Miura Anjin.
Thomas Waghorn (1800-1850), a naval officer, was born on the High Street, Chatham, and is honoured with a statue for his achievements in postal communications and for his ideas of developing a new route to India overland via Egypt, avoiding the arduous journey around Africa.