The San Francisco calamity by earthquake and fire Part 34

"Let me add that, after the first shock was over, the survivors of the crew rendered willing help to navigate the ship to this port. Mr.

Plissoneau, our agent in Martinique, happening to be on board, was saved, and I really believe that he is the only survivor of St. Pierre.

As it is, he is seriously burned on the hands and face.

"FREEMAN,

"Master British Steamship Roddam."

THE "ETONA" Pa.s.sES ST. PIERRE

The British steamer Etona, of the Norton Line, stopped at St. Lucia to coal on May 10th. Captain Cantell there visited the Roddam and had an interview with Captain Freeman. On the 11th the Elona put to sea again, pa.s.sing St. Pierre in the afternoon. We subjoin her captain's story:

"The weather was clear and we had a fine view, but the old outlines of St. Pierre were not recognizable. Everything was a ma.s.s of blue lava, and the formation of the land itself seemed to have changed. When we were about eight miles off the northern end of the island Mount Pelee began to belch a second time. Clouds of smoke and lava shot into the air and spread over all the sea, darkening the sun. Our decks in a few minutes were covered with a substance that looked like sand dyed a bluish tint, and which smelled like phosphorus. For all that the day was clear, there was little to be seen satisfactorily. Over the island there hung a blue haze. It seemed to me that the formation, the topography, of the island was altered.

"Everything seemed to be covered with a blue dust, such as had fallen aboard us every day since we had been within the affected region. It was blue lava dust. For more than an hour we scanned the coast with our gla.s.ses, now and then discovering something that looked like a ruined hamlet or collection of buildings. There was no life visible. Suddenly we realized that we might have to fight for our lives as the Roddam's people had done.

"We were about four miles off the northern end of the island when suddenly there shot up in the air to a tremendous height a column of smoke. The sky darkened and the smoke seemed to swirl down upon us. In fact, it spread all around, darkening the atmosphere as far as we could see. I called Chief Engineer Farrish to the deck.

"'Do you see that over there?' I asked, pointing to the eruption, for it was the second eruption of Mont Pelee. He saw it all right. Captain Freeman's story was fresh in my mind.

"'Well, Farrish, rush your engines as they have never been rushed before,' I said to him. He went below, and soon we began to burn coal and pile up the feathers in our forefoot.

"I was on watch with Second Officer Gibbs. At once we began to furl awnings and make secure against fire. The crew were all showing an anxious spirit, and everybody on board, including the four pa.s.sengers, were serious and apprehensive.

"We began to cut through the water at almost twelve knots. Ordinarily we make ten knots. We could see no more of the land contour, but everything seemed to be enveloped in a great cloud. There was no fire visible, but the lava dust rained down upon us steadily. In less than an hour there were two inches of it upon our deck.

"The air smelled like phosphorus. No one dared to look up to try to locate the sun, because one's eyes would fill with lava dust. Some of the blue lava dust is sticking to our mast yet, although we have swabbed decks and rigging again and again to be clear of it.

"After a little more than an hour's fast running we saw daylight ahead and began to breathe easier. If I had not talked with Captain Freeman and heard from him just how the black swirl of wind and fire rolled down upon him, I would not have been so apprehensive, but would have thought that the darkness and cloud that came down upon us meant just an unusually heavy squall."

CHIEF ENGINEER FARRISH'S STORY

"The Etona's run from Montevideo was a fast one--I think a record breaker. We were 22 days and 21 hours from port to port. Off Martinique I stared at the coast for about an hour, and then went below. The blue lava that covered everything faded into the haze that hung over the island so that nothing was distinctly visible. Through my gla.s.s I discovered a stream of lava, though. It stretched down the mountain side, and seemed to be flowing into the sea. It was not clearly and distinctly visible, however.

"About 3 o'clock I went below to take forty winks. I had been in my berth only a few minutes when the steward told me the captain wanted me on the bridge.

"'Do you see that, Farrish?' he asked, pointing at the land. An outburst of smoke seemed to be sweeping down upon us. It made me think of the Roddam's experience. Smoke and dust closed in about us, shutting out the sunlight, and precipitating a fall of lava on our decks.

"'Go below and drive her,' said the captain, and I didn't lose any time, I can tell you. We burned coal as though it didn't cost a cent. The safety valve was jumping every second, even though we were making twelve knots an hour. For two hours we kept up the pace, and then, running into clear daylight, let the engines slow down and we all cheered up a bit."

CAPTAIN CANTELL VISITS THE "RODDAM"

Captain Cantell went on board the Roddam, whose frightful condition he thus describes:

"At St. Lucia, on May 11th, I went on board the British steamship Roddam, which had escaped from the terrible volcanic eruption at Martinique two days before. The state of the ship was enough to show that those on board must have undergone an awful experience.

"The Roddam was covered with a ma.s.s of fine bluish gray dust or ashes of cement-like appearance. In some parts it lay two feet deep on the decks.

This matter had fallen in a red-hot state all over the steamer, setting fire to everything it struck that was burnable, and, when it fell on the men on board, burning off limbs and large pieces of flesh. This was shown by finding portions of human flesh when the decks were cleared of the debris. The rigging, ropes, tarpaulins, sails, awnings, etc., were charred or burned, and most of the upper stanchions and spars were swept overboard or destroyed by fire. Skylights were smashed and cabins were filled with volcanic dust. The scene of ruin was deplorable.

"The captain, though suffering the greatest agony, succeeded in navigating his vessel safely to the port of Castries, St. Lucia, with eighteen dead bodies on the deck and human limbs scattered about. A sailor stood by constantly wiping the captain's injured eyes.

"I think the performance of the Roddam's captain was most wonderful, and the more so when I saw his pitiful condition. I do not understand how he kept up, yet when the steamer arrived at St. Lucia and medical a.s.sistance was procured, this brave man asked the doctors to attend to the others first and refused to be treated until this was done.

"My interview with the captain brought out this account. I left him in good spirits and receiving every comfort. The sight of his face would frighten anyone not prepared to see it."

THE VIVID ACCOUNT OF M. ALBERT

To the accounts given by the survivors of the Roraima and the officers of the Etona, it will be well to add the following graphic story told by M. Albert, a planter of the island, the owner of an estate situated only a mile to the northeast of the burning crater of Mont Pelee. His escape from death had in it something of the marvellous. He says:

"Mont Pelee had given warning of the destruction that was to come, but we, who had looked upon the volcano as harmless, did not believe that it would do more than spout fire and steam, as it had done on other occasions. It was a little before eight o'clock on the morning of May 8 that the end came. I was in one of the fields of my estate when the ground trembled under my feet, not as it does when the earth quakes, but as though a terrible struggle was going on within the mountain. A terror came upon me, but I could not explain my fear.

"As I stood still Mont Pelee seemed to shudder, and a moaning sound issued from its crater. It was quite dark, the sun being obscured by ashes and fine volcanic dust. The air was dead about me, so dead that the floating dust seemingly was not disturbed. Then there was a rending, crashing, grinding noise, which I can only describe as sounding as though every bit of machinery in the world had suddenly broken down. It was deafening, and the flash of light that accompanied it was blinding, more so than any lightning I have ever seen.

"It was like a terrible hurricane, and where a fraction of a second before there had been a perfect calm, I felt myself drawn into a vortex and I had to brace myself firmly. It was like a great express train rushing by, and I was drawn by its force. The mysterious force levelled a row of strong trees, tearing them up by the roots and leaving bare a s.p.a.ce of ground fifteen yards wide and more than one hundred yards long.

Transfixed I stood, not knowing in what direction to flee. I looked toward Mont Pelee, and above its apex there appeared a great black cloud which reached high in the air. It literally fell upon the city of St.

Pierre. It moved with a rapidity that made it impossible for anything to escape it. From the cloud came explosions that sounded as though all of the navies of the world were in t.i.tanic combat. Lightning played in and out in broad forks, the result being that intense darkness was followed by light that seemed to be of magnifying power.

"That St. Pierre was doomed I knew, but I was prevented from seeing the destruction by a spur of the hill that shut off the view of the city. It is impossible for me to tell how long I stood there inert. Probably it was only a few seconds, but so vivid were my impressions that it now seems as though I stood as a spectator for many minutes. When I recovered possession of my senses I ran to my house and collected the members of the family, all of whom were panic stricken. I hurried them to the seash.o.r.e, where we boarded a small steamship, in which we made the trip in safety to Fort de France.

"I know that there was no flame in the first wave that was sent down upon St. Pierre. It was a heavy gas, like firedamp, and it must have asphyxiated the inhabitants before they were touched by the fire, which quickly followed. As we drew out to sea in the small steamship, Mont Pelee was in the throes of a terrible convulsion. New craters seemed to be opening all about the summit and lava was flowing in broad streams in every direction. My estate was ruined while we were still in sight of it. Many women who lived in St. Pierre escaped only to know that they were left widowed and childless. This is because many of the wealthier men sent their wives away, while they remained in St. Pierre to attend to their business affairs."

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE "HORACE"

The British steamer Horace experienced the effect of the explosion when farther from land. After touching at Barbados, she reached the vicinity of Martinique on May 9th, her decks being covered with several inches of dust when she was a hundred and twenty-five miles distant. We quote engineer Anderson's story:

"On the afternoon of May 8 (Thursday) we noticed a peculiar haze in the direction of Martinique. The air seemed heavy and oppressive. The weather conditions were not at all unlike those which precede the great West Indian hurricanes, but, knowing it was not the season of the year for them, we all remarked in the engine room that there must be a heavy storm approaching.

"Several of the sailors, experienced deep water seamen, laughed at our prognostications, and informed us there would be no storm within the next sixty hours, and insisted that, according to all fo'cas'le indications, a dead calm was in sight.

"So unusually peculiar were the weather conditions that we talked of nothing else during the evening. That night, in the direction of Martinique, there was a very black sky, an unusual thing at this season of the year, and a storm was apparently brewing in a direction from which storms do not come at this season.

GREAT FLASHES OF LIGHT

"As the night wore on those on watch noticed what appeared to be great flashes of lightning in the direction of Martinique. It seemed as though the ordinary conditions were reversed, and even the fo'cas'le prophets were unable to offer explanations.

"Occasionally, over the pounding of the engines and the rush of water, we thought we could hear long, deep roars, not unlike the ending of a deep peal of thunder. Several times we heard the rumble or roar, but at the time we were not certain as to exactly what it was, or even whether we really heard it.

"There would suddenly come great flashes of light from the dark bank toward Martinique. Some of them seemed to spread over a great area, while others appeared to spout skyward, funnel shaped. All night this continued, and it was not until day came that the flashes disappeared.