483 
SOUFEIERE, AND ON A VISIT TO MONTAGNE PELEE, IN 1902. 
liviug occujDants rushed into the streets, yelling with pain and terror, terribly injured, 
throwing themselves into the sea to mitigate the agony of their burns. It was no 
earthquake that levelled the town, neither was it lightning nor the weight of ashes. 
All who saw that calamity and have survived agree that a mighty blast came with 
the cloud and mowed down everything, in its path. The origin of the conflagration is 
not quite so clear, and there may have been more than one cause. Lightning may 
have ignited some structures, and the fires in some of the houses may have played a 
part in setting the ruins ablaze. But the cloud was filled with hot ashes, and we 
have no doubt that, especially in the north end of the towm, the temperature of the 
dust was sufficiently high to ignite combustible substances. 
Captain Feeeman, of the “ Boddam,” has described his fearful experiences in 
language so terse and vigorous that it is well suited to the occasion* :— 
“ At about 8.15 he was in the chart room; a good many of the sailors were leaning over the side of the 
vessel watching the distant mountain, which was emitting dense clouds of smoke and occasional flashes of 
light. Mr. Campbell was talking to Mr. Plissonxeau on the deck. On a sudden he (the Captain) heard 
a tremendous noise, as though the entire land had parted asunder. Simultaneous with the noise there was 
a great rush of wind, which immediately agitated the sea, and tossed the shipping to and fro ; he rushed 
out of the chart room, and looking over the town and across the hills he saw a sight he cannot describe. 
He remembers calling out to Mr. Campbell, and saying : ‘ Look! ’—then an avalanche of lava was upon 
them. It immediately caught the town afire as it passed over it, likewise the shipping. It struck his ship 
with the force of a mighty hammer, and the lava rained upon the deck. Everyone, as far as he could see, 
sought shelter at once, but the heat was so great, and the air so suffocating, that Mr. Campbell and many 
of the crew, among whom was the chief mate, threw themselves in despair overboard. Some crawled from 
where they had hidden themselves on to the deck to obtain a breath of air, and were roasted upon the 
fiery hot ashes. He did not lose his head, his first thought was to try and save his ship and such of his 
crew as were still alive. He rang the bell for full speed astern, and the heroes below turned on the steam. 
He had time to slip his anchor, and he was off'. As his steering gear was rather difficult to manage he once 
or twice nearly ran foul of the steamship ‘ Eoraima,’ which was on fire. He saw two still figures standing 
on the bridge with arms folded heroically awaiting their end. One of them waved a good-bye to him. 
There were a good many passengers on board, these were rushing up and down in anguish. When he was 
steaming out of port he looked down at the l^urning city. A pall had enveloped it, but through it he 
could plainly see the skeletons of bruning houses, and the shadowy figures of men and women running 
hither and thither in their terror, and above the loud din of the falling cinders, the roar of the raging sea, 
he heard the agonised cries of 30,000 voices.” 
The cloud was red hot when it emerged, or, at any rate, a red glare was seen in 
the fissure from which it leajDed. As it swept down it was black to those who saw it 
coming, and lightnings scintillated in its front. With it came the mighty wind 
which capsized the “ GrajDpler,” ruined the town, and laid the “Boraima'' and the 
“ Boddam ” on their beam-ends till the water jDoured in through the lee ports. The 
dust cloud followed in an instant. The sea raged as in a storm. Its surface hissed 
with the hot dust, and must have been nearly boiling. Even late that night the 
engineer of the B.M.S. “ Esk ” found the temperature of the water of the bay five 
* Blue Book ‘ On the Volcanic Eruptions in St. Vincent and Martinique in May, 1902,’ p. 45. 
3 Q 2 
