AUGUST 14, 1902] 
NAT ORE 
371 
The Roddam was not saved by being lifted on a wave, 
neither was it saved by knocking out shackle pins and 
slipping the cables. What Freeman did was to free his 
windlass and then run full speed astern until the cable 
parted. After that, the steering gear being jammed with 
ash, he steamed ahead and then astern, close to burning 
ships, seeing and hearing the cries of those on board and 
also of those who were running to and fro along the 
shore. From this it is certain that many of the people 
in St. Pierre did not die suddenly. Twenty-six of his 
own men also died, and for the most part they died 
slowly. At the end of an hour anda half the gear was 
cleared and he escaped. Then came a shower, not of 
mud, but of rain. About eight hours later, with 120 tons 
of fine sand-like ash upon its deck, the Reddam steamed 
into St. Lucia. Notwithstanding the fact that possibly 
2 or 3 per cent. of this material consisted of grains of 
magnetite, and the quantity of ash containing this 
material above and around his vessel was so great that 
daylight was replaced by a darkness that could be felt, 
such compasses as were left in the Roddam were service- 
able for navigation and did not show any irregularity 
in behaviour. Before the eruption nothing unusual was 
observed in the barometer. 
These few notes, which bear upon the reports we are 
considering, but, as will be seen, are not entirely in 
harmony with the same, come from a man who saw the 
great explosion, was in the midst of its blast and saw 
what could be seen from the sea of the events which 
closely followed its occurrence. 
That Captain Freeman, whilst on a burning ship, 
where he was more than half suffocated with hot ashes, 
when the boots were burned from his feet, his face 
seared and his hands so scorched and welted that he 
worked with his elbows, had the presence of mind to do 
what he did and the physical and mental power to carry 
out his intentions under these trying conditions is one of 
those instances of will-power and endurance possessed by 
few so well worthy of record. Let it be repeated, tne 
Roddam was not saved by accident, but it was saved as 
Captain Freeman saved it once before whilst eleven 
other steamers foundered, by good judgment and 
courage, and it is to be hoped that before long he will 
receive from underwriters or others substantial recogni- 
tion, not only for his services on the Roddam, but for the 
example he has placed before the world. 
To return to Mr. Hill’s report, at 7 o’clock on the 
morning of May 8 Mr. Ferdinand Clerc observed the 
needle of a large aneroid barometer pulsating violently, 
and it was in consequence of this fact that he left the 
city and escaped. It is, of course, possible that these 
movements were due to the air disturbances accompany- 
ing the outbursts of “smoke” which preceded the great 
eruption. This eruption, which took the form of a big 
black cloud, no doubt made up of ash, steam and other 
gases, issued from ‘“‘a point fully 1000 metres below the 
summit” and travelled at the rate of a mile a minute 
downwards over the surface of the earth upon St. Pierre 
and its harbour. The ashes which fell upon the deck of 
the Roddam were found still to be warm thirteen days 
after the eruption. 
At the time they fell on the Rorazma they were hot 
enough to ignite rope and bedding, but not to ignite 
wood. This statement, according to Captain Freeman, 
means that the level surface of a deck would not be 
fired by a thick layer of such ashes, whilst woodwork 
round the edges of such a layer might be ignited. At 
all events the Rovaima and other vessels were destroyed 
by fire, whilst the cloud as it passed: over St. Pierre set 
fire to buildings. The Dominica Guardian of June 25 
writes on this subject as follows :— 
“Tt would appear that a sudden fissure was opened on 
the side of the mountain overlooking the city ; and, near 
to the Etang Sec on this flank of the volcano, a large 
NO. 1711, VOL. 66] 
vent belched out lava, superheated steam and acid gases 
downwards on to St. Pierre and the roadstead. The 
flashing off into steam of the water imprisoned in the 
incandescent lava converted that lava into sand and dust 
before it reached the city, and the radiation of heat from 
molten rock at a temperature of more than 1000 C. caused 
an incredibly hot blast that would create a red hot hurri- 
cane—if I may employ such a term—that would kill 
people and animals instantly, and that would cause 
all inflammable matter to burst into flame. This 
from what I gather is what really happened, and I do 
not think that poisonous gases or electrical phenomena 
are accountable for the destruction of life.” 
The steam, hot air or gas penetrated clothing without 
firing the same, but it burned the skin beneath. This 
seems to have been true for those who were on the sea- 
ward side of St. Pierre, but it hardly appears to have 
been the case with those who were on the side nearest 
to the eruption. 
Those who saw the cloud from the front, Mr. Hill tells 
us, say that it was not accompanied by incandescence, 
whilst those who were at the side or behind the same 
testify to seeing a flash-like flame suggestive of the 
ignition of a gas. It is quite conceivable that those 
behind the cloud might see that which was invisible to 
those in front, but the nuns at Morne Rouge do not 
appear to have seen the alleged flame. 
The total quantity of ash that fell in St. Pierre was 
less than 1 foot in thickness, and it was piled highest 
against the northern walls, that is, on the side facing 
Mont Pelee. 
In the blackening of silver and other metal objects 
picked up in the ruins, Mr. Hill sees evidence of the 
presence of vapours which were sulphurous. That silver 
should have been blackened within a burning house is 
what might be expected, but it does not follow that this 
blackening was due to sulphur from Mont Pelée. That 
there were small quantities of sulphurous vapour escaping 
before the great eruption is exceedingly likely, but when 
the latter took place it is more likely that the gas which 
accompanied the steam blast was hydrochloric rather 
than sulphurous. Since the days of Sodom and 
Gomorrah sulphur has keen associated with volcanic 
action, and in the popular mind a volcano must always 
be accompanied by the combustion of this element. 
The force of this blast may be judged by the photographs, 
the most striking of which is that of the monument of Our 
Lady of the Watch, which, although it weighed several 
tons, was hurled 50 feet. The blast caused vessels to turn 
turtle, walls were blown down and almost every standing 
object was levelled with the ground. 
After the first blast, which pulverised buildings on the 
north side of St. Pierre, there was a return blast to blow 
over the south end of buildings, and lastly there came 
what appears to have been a vacuum—witnesses say that 
they “‘ could get no air to breathe.” ‘ 
The fact that in the clouds which were thrown out in 
subsequent eruptions there were “tremendous displays 
of bolts and flashes” suggests that the flash which is 
said to have accompanied the primary outburst may 
have been a phenomenon akin to sheet lightning, which 
could only be seen on one side of the cloud which 
covered St. Pierre. 
With this blast there was practically no noise of a great 
explosion, neither was there any evidence of marked 
seismic activity. 
People were killed by inhaling hot ashes, some were 
burned by ashes or steam or flames, and by no means 
did all die instantly. With the exception of a few trees 
and plants protected in deep ravines, the country around 
St. Pierre was denuded of vegetation, but it is satis- 
factory to read that “nineteen-twentieths of the area of 
Martinique is as green and beautiful to-day as ever it 
was.” Out of an area of 380 square miles only 1275 
