Long lines formed on the quay where it had been reported that two
boats would leave for Ostend by eleven o'clock, and all those that
could pay struggled to get their passage booked. There were between
35,000 and 40,000 people on the quays, every one buoyed up by the
hope that safety was in sight at last. But the boats failed to
sail and a murmur of disappointment rose from this vast multitude
of unfortunates.
However, there were other means of escape available, such as tugboats,
plying between Flushing, Rotterdam, and other adjacent points in
Holland. These tugs had no great accommodations for passengers
and comparatively few people escaped by this means. No trains were
scheduled to run and in despair the crowds started to cross the
bridge and make for the road to the Dutch frontier. Altogether
from 150,000 to 200,000 of the population of the city escaped by
one means or another.
During a continuous bombardment of twelve hours the cathedral stood
unharmed. The southern part of Antwerp was a desolate waste of ruins.
In some streets all the homes were ablaze, the flames leaping hither
and thither with the wind. The great oil tanks burning fiercely on
the opposite bank of the River Scheldt were fired upon by some
well-directed shots to check the blaze, a huge black volume of
thick smoke now rising from the flames. To add to the difficulties
and confusion the water supply had been cut off during the early
stages of the bombardment through the destruction of the city's
waterworks which were located in one of the suburbs to the south,
and the consequences threatened to become alarming.
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