Information Sign Escape to freedom with tugboat Altas V

At the ferry from Eijsden (NL) to Lanaye (B) is this information board. It tells the story of the Belgian refugees during World War I who arrived in Eijsden at this location on the Meuse River by tugboat Atlas V.

They had left behind the bridge (Pont Atlas) over the Meuse River named after the towboat after the war. A monument has been erected near this bridge to commemorate this flight of 103 refugees.

To be mentioned separately is the bell (ship's bell) that was aboard the Atlas V. It was donated by the Gilman family after its safe passage to the “Sanctuaire de la Vierge des Pauvres, Notre-Dame at Banneux. The Gilman society had purchased the clock in 1906. The Gilman family owned the boat, and after it was docked in Eijsden, later, obliged by the Germans, picked it up there and scraped it back to Liège. Later, the Gilman family donated the bell to the Sanctuary.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze (1), Ed Lewandowski (2)
• Uit Eijsdens verleden, nr. 44, 1988.