Battle of Landguard Fort The Battle of Landguard Fort or the Attack on Landguard Fort was a battle towards the end of the Second Anglo - Dutch War on 2 July 1667 where a Dutch force attacked Landguard Fort near Felixstowe . It was intended to clear the way for an attack on the English Royal naval anchorage at Harwich . After repeated attempts the Dutch attack planned by Michiel de Ruyter was repelled and as a result the planned attack on Harwich was abandoned . It was one of the last battles of the war in Europe before the Treaty of Breda was signed . Background . In the aftermath of the great Dutch victory on the Medway in June 1667 Michiel de Ruyter now had command of the Thames Estuary which allowed the Dutch to establish a naval blockade of London . Further attempts to operate in the Thames met with less success , and so at the start of July de Ruyter decided to attack Harwich , the next good safe anchorage up the coast from the Thames , and a naval base since 1657 . Before they could attack Harwich itself the Dutch needed to neutralize Landguard Fort , the port ' s outermost line of defense . Landguard Fort is situated on a spit of land that runs south from Felixstowe across the mouth of the River Stour and River Orwell estuaries , and was built to protect the anchorage at Harwich , on the opposite side of the estuary . The governor of Landguard fort was Nathanial Darrell and was defended by 400 experienced musketeers of the Duke of York and Albany ' s Maritime Regiment . The Fort itself had forty cannons with approximately one - hundred men and officers for gun crews . Battle . De Ruyter split two of his squadrons in the attack with one squadron operating inside the estuary and one out to sea . As they moved forward they came across unexpectedly shallow water which meant that the attack from the estuary was totally abandoned , but seaward squadron could fire a few shots at long range . He had intended to support this attack with naval gunfire at relatively close range but De Ruyter still pressed ahead . The Dutch now sent the marines into boats and rowed to shore with some 1 , 500 marines and 500 sailors under the command of Colonel Thomas Dolman ( a hardliner Parliamentarian turncoat ) , the English commander of the Dutch land forces . They landed on the coast to the north of the fort at Cobbold ' s Point . This put them out of range of the guns in the fort , but also meant that they had to split their forces . The Dutch left the smaller part of their force at the cliffs the vast majority of them sailors , and this left the marines to attack on their own . The marines marched south to attack the fort while they had the hard task of dragging their cannons across the shingle . The English were alerted to the Dutch and soon prepared for action , they had warnings of possible Dutch attack especially after the defeat at Medway . The Dutch made no hesitation in launching an attack ; ladders were bought forward and in action lasting forty five minutes the Dutch were repelled by concentrated English fire which had caused some loss . The Dutch however did not give up ; they reorganized and launched a secound attack . This time a small English galliot had joined in the action firing grapeshot at the Dutch soldiers on the shore near the Fort . The shingle on the beach , sprayed by the shot acted like shrapnel causing the Dutch many casualties . Dolman was killed in this attack which created confusion and less than fifteen minutes later the leaderless Dutch marines retreated , leaving their ladders and other equipment behind . The English captured a number prisoners and the Dutch suffered many casualties . The Dutch seaward squadron was only able to fire a few ineffective shots at long range . While the Dutch marines had been attacking the fort , the sailors at their beachhead came under attack by the local trained militia , commanded by the Earl of Suffolk . Continuous English fire lasted until 10pm at which point the sailors decided that with casualties rising and being unable to advance forward the decision to retreat was made . By now the Dutch were trapped onshore by low water until around 2am on 3 July , giving 500 regular infantry under Major Legge time to arrive from Harwich . They too had been involved with some more skirmishing with the Dutch who had been retreating from the fort but no British cavalry arrived . Legge ' s men were soon badly outnumbered as the defeated Dutch marines soon joined forces with their men on the beachhead . No significant fighting took place and the Dutch were able to re - embark after 2am , and by 6am their fleet had sailed away from Harwich . Aftermath . Losses for the Dutch were moderate they had suffered less than 150 killed , wounded or captured . The English loss was no more than 10 men but included Darrel who was wounded in the shoulder by a musket ball . After the failure of this raid the Dutch settled down to blockade the Thames . De Ruyter sailed off to cruise up and down the English Channel , leaving Admiral Jan Jansse van Nes in charge of the blockade , which lasted until the end of July . Further hostilities were ended by the Peace of Breda , which was signed on 31 July 1667 . Legacy . The attack was perhaps most noteworthy for being an early battle honour for both the English and Dutch marines . The Dutch Regiment de Marine had been founded by Michiel de Ruyter in 1665 , and had won its first battle honour at Chatham during the attack on the Medway earlier in the year and they would later become the Netherlands Marine Corps . The garrison of Landguard were provided by the Duke of York and Albany ' s Maritime Regiment , raised in 1664 and one of the earliest precursors of the Royal Marines . The defense of Landguard was their first battle honour and it is recorded as the site of the last opposed invasion or attack of England . The fort to this day is still in existence and is open to the public as museum .