As you know from the school geography course, the Lesser Antilles are located in the Caribbean. Eternal summer reigns here, and slender palm trees on the shores of luxurious beaches look into the blue waves, and the mountain slopes are covered with blooming gardens. In this fragrant paradise, in the north of the island of Martinique, the port city of Saint-Pierre once flourished. And no one was worried about the proximity of the Mont Pele volcano, which had not been active for many years, the crater of which was filled with water.
The mountain is coming
In early May 1902, a rumble was heard from the Mont Pele volcano, and tremors began to be felt. Some of the more curious inhabitants climbed to the top of the mountain and saw that the water in the lake, which was located in the crater of the volcano, was boiling. But this did not alert anyone. Meanwhile, the volcano was waking up, and the underground rumble was heard more and more.
And then the slopes of Mont Pele seemed to come to life - hundreds of poisonous snakes were crawling along them. Once in the city, they began to sting passers-by who got in the way.
More than 500 people and about 200 domestic animals died from their bites.
People heard a rumble coming from underground, at night the top of the volcano flashed with a bright light. The clouds of cement-like ash erupting from the bowels of the mountain grew thicker, and gray dust covered the city, the trees and the ground around like snow. Deprived of food, animals died, dead birds lay on the roads. A couple of days later, the lake in the crater overflowed its banks, and the resulting mud flow gushed along the riverbed. Anxiety was raised, people ran and shouted in horror: "The mountain is coming!"
A black avalanche more than 10 meters high and 150 meters wide with a terrible noise rushed along the slope of the volcano, breaking and drowning everything in its path. At that time, 23 people died, a sugar factory on the seashore was buried under lava. Fumaroles opened along the river (cracks and holes located in craters, on the slopes and at the foot of volcanoes - ed.), Throwing out hot gases. A dead fish was swimming in the bay.
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Doomsday of the port city
The morning of May 8 was clear. The volcano was not very active. A column of gray steam rose above him, and fine ash slowly fell on the city. Gradually the ash rain intensified, and it became so dark that lamps were lit in the houses. Then a sudden catastrophe struck, which killed all 30 thousand inhabitants of Saint-Pierre. Only those who did not fall into the zone of action of the terrible cataclysm could tell about this tragedy, and the few who survived from the ships that were in the harbor.
Above the volcano was a white, silvery cloud, shaped like a head of cauliflower. Then the city and port disappeared from view in clouds of black smoke, the ground shook underfoot, and a rumble was heard. At 7 hours and 50 minutes a deafening roar was heard. A black cloud on the mountain was enveloped in a network of lightning and rolled down from the volcano towards the city. Warehouses with rum and spirits in distilleries were torn apart, it became unbearably hot, and the air burned the lungs. The edge of an incandescent cloud cloud captured a line of carriages ascending a nearby hill. Those at the end of it disappeared without a trace, the front crews were broken, and their passengers were burned, but survived. The fiery black cloud quickly disappeared, and when the darkness cleared away, nothing remained of the city but flaming ruins.
Of the 18 ships anchored in the harbor, only the steamer "Roddan" survived. Its captain I. U. Freeman, hearing the roar, jumped out of the cabin onto the deck, gave up the mooring lines and gave the driver the full speed signal. Just a few minutes ago, many of the ship's passengers were leaning against the side and staring at the volcano, throwing out thick clouds of smoke and, at times, sheaves of light. A hot avalanche of a sudden destructive whirlwind, like a huge hammer, hit the ship, and lava rain poured onto the deck. People were gasping for breath, their eyes, mouths and ears were full of hot ash. Freeman steered the steamer towards the neighboring island of Santa Lucia. When they arrived at the island, there was a layer of ash six centimeters thick on the deck, and half of the passengers and crew were dead. The others also died from severe burns within two days. Only the captain and the driver survived,who was at the time of the blow of the fire whirlwind in the wheelhouse of the steamer
Desert of gray ash
Andrew Thomson, one of the few surviving passengers of the Roraima ship that was burned down in the harbor, recalled the incident with horror. Many of the 86 people who were on the ship were on deck and, frozen with horror, watched the terrible sight. One engineer with a device in his hands was going to photograph the smoking mountain. After a terrible explosion, the whole sky was on fire, and the captain of the ship rushed to the bridge with a shout: "Unleash!" - but it was too late. A fiery hurricane hit the ship. Thomson rushed into the cabin, the steamer swayed, masts and pipes fell into the water. Scorching ash and suffocating poisonous gases forced many to throw themselves into the sea. A strong hum and dense darkness made it impossible to hear or see further than a couple of meters.
In a few minutes the hurricane died down, breathing became easier and everything around cleared up. But most of the people have already died. The wounded moaned all around. The few who survived in this hell had to fight the fire that started on the ship. The steamer "Syushe", which arrived in the afternoon, took only a few people on board, the rest were dead. "Roraima" was burning down, corpses of people were floating among the wreckage of the pier and ships.
Only after a couple of days did it become possible to approach the city. In its place and around there was a desert of grayish-white ash, ruins of houses, blackened by fire, stuck out. Charred tree trunks were occasionally encountered. On the main street of the city, the theater, courthouse and houses were destroyed to the ground. Even the glass melted, and the corpses of people were burned beyond recognition. Only two people survived. One of them - a criminal who was sitting in a deaf stone prison tower - was pardoned after being rescued and performed in circuses in the country, boasting that he was the only survivor of the cataclysm. The second inhabitant, whose name has not been preserved by history, was probably saved by some accident and iron health.
The ruins of a distillery testify to the strength of the hurricane. Its huge steel tanks with walls six millimeters thick were crumpled like sheets of newspaper and pierced through with stones.
An obelisk rose from the crater
The raging volcano did not stop its activity. He threw out thick clouds of steam and burning clouds many more times. On June 2, a hot whirlwind swept over the ruins of the city, much stronger than the first. But there was nothing left to his share, he just lifted clouds of cooled ash into the air.
A violent eruption also occurred on 22 June. A dark cloud similar to a ball appeared over the crater, lingered on its edge and rolled down the slope, gradually accelerating its movement. She was pitch black, and arrows of lightning pierced her incessantly. The cloud quickly rolled to the edge of the bay and sank onto the waves like a black blanket. At night, an ever-increasing light was visible in the crater of the volcano. Red-hot stones flew out of it, fell on the slope and rolled down.
Another powerful eruption occurred on September 12. A bright light illuminated the clouds above the volcano, an angry roar came from the mountain, and a terrible dark red avalanche rushed to the sea. The incandescent cloud captured the edge of the Red Hill, which had not previously entered the danger zone, and killed another 1,500 people.
At the beginning of 1903, a majestic stone obelisk began to rise from the crater, covered with cracks on all sides, from which white clouds of steam came out calmly or with explosions. During the explosions, large blocks fell off from it and fell into the crater. For another whole year, the volcano threw up clouds of steam, ash and stones. The stone obelisk rose 400 meters and shone at night. Inside it, apparently, was molten lava.
Peleus activity
Such eruptions became known as Pelei activity. The manifestations inherent in this type of volcanism - the appearance of a dome, a scorching cloud and a lava obelisk - are due to the extreme viscosity of lava, rich in silicon. A thick doughy mass slowly rises from the crater, solidifying in the form of a cap. Obelisk is a very rare phenomenon. A scorching cloud is an emulsion of burning gases and hot lava dust. It bursts out of the volcano at an incredible speed of up to 500 kilometers per hour.
The catastrophe that took place in the city of Saint-Pierre more than a century ago reminds us once again how helpless and defenseless the "lord" of nature is in front of its formidable and inexorable elements.
Valery Kukarenko