Statue of Adriaan van Bergen - Etten-Leur

A well-known former resident of Etten-Leur is the peat boatman Adriaan van Bergen. In the Eighty Years' War, he helped Prince Maurice of Orange with a historic ruse to recapture Breda from the Spanish. 


At that time, the peat skipper brought peat to Breda castle so often that his ship was no longer controlled. Following the Trojan horse, he proposed to the prince, hiding on his ship seventy soldiers under a cargo of peat, smuggling them into the city.

On the day the peat ship loaded with soldiers should have left, the skipper overslept and a day later withdrew after which he was replaced by two cousins. Eventually, the peat ship left port without Adriaan. However, the ruse worked and on 4 March 1590 the city of Breda could be taken.

The statue of Adriaan van Bergen stands quite appropriately at Leurse Haven, from where his men left with his peat ship. The statue was created by Dutch sculptor Bart van Hove in 1904.

Incidentally, this is not the only statue of the Turf Skipper in the Netherlands. There is also a statue of Adriaan van Bergen behind the Old Town Hall on the Grote Markt in Breda.