ON THE TOPIC OF MARTINIQUE AND MT. PELÈE
At present, this beautiful island appears as another lovely spot in the overall Caribbean paradise. But as I viewed St. Pierre and the impressive Mt. Pelée towering so close to the city (Figure 6), I found myself offering a prayer so that what happened on 8 May, 1902, would not occur again!
References
Donovan, S. K. and T. A. Jackson (1994): “Caribbean Geology: An Introduction.” University of West Indies, 289 p.
Dvorak, J. (2015): “The Last Volcano.” Pegasus Books, 307 p. (Refer to “Prologue”, p. XV to XXIII).
Figure 4. The author points to Mt. Pelée from St. Pierre. Photo by Hilma Font.
Eardley, A. J. (1951): “Structural Geology of North America.” Harper and Brothers, 624 p. (Refer to “The Antillean-Caribbean Region” pp. 562-599).
James, K. H. (2011): “The Origin and Evolution of the Caribbean Plate – Special Publication 328.” Geological Society Publishing House, 542 p.
Figure 6. Mt. Pelée stands omi- nously just 4 miles from St. Pierre. Photo by Robert Font.
Lindsay, J. M. – Editor (2005): “Volcanic Hazards Atlas of the Lesser Antilles.” University of the West Indies. 274 p.
Figure 5. A view of Mt. Pelée from the streets of St. Pierre. Photo by Robert Font.
Tragically, 28,000 people died. Only two individuals survived in St. Pierre itself; Louis-Auguste Cyparis, a prisoner in a dungeon-like ail, and Léon-Compère Léandre, who lived at the edge of the city. Both were badly burned. Dr. John Dvorak in his text, “The Last Volcano,” narrates the account of a witness to the eruption. Captain Edward Freeman, commander of the steamship “Roddam,” was anchored in the bay when the erup- tion commenced. He witnessed the black cloud of the “nuée ardente” emerge from the volcano. Within two minutes it engulfed St. Pierre. By that time it was more than a mile wide and over one thousand feet high. The cloud of incan- descent gas and ash approached the “Roddam” at hurricane speed. Captain Freeman watched his crew die in agony, as well as hundreds of people running desperately along the shoreline; their bodies on fire. The heavy iron chain that held his steamship to a buoy snapped and the vessel was set adrift. Suffering from terrible burns and in enormous pain Captain Freeman managed to steer the “Roddam” until it caught a cur- rent that allowed the ship to drift into St. Lucia. When Charles Dennehy, the British Colonial Surgeon of St. Lucia, asked Captain Freeman where he had come from, the Captain replied: “From the gates of hell” (Dvorak, 2015, p. XVI).
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