32
THE
DESTRUCTION
OF
ST. PIERRE, MARTINIQUE.
1727, there was what a historian describes as a “dreadful earthquake, lasting hours, ’ ’ but he does not state the loss of life, if there was any. In 1767, however, an earthquake is briefly recorded that resulted in the loss of 16,000 human lives. In 1772 there was another earthquake that destroyed the island’s fortifications. In 1839 the then capital, Fort Royal, now known as Fort de France, was visited by an earthquake, which destroyed about half the town, caused damage throughout the island and killed some seven hundred persons. Mont Pelee has had several dead craters. One of these is thus described : ‘ ‘ The water was perfectly clear. At the bottom there was a shallow layer of mud of a yellowish color. This mud rested on a mass of pumice stone, mixed in places with ferruginous sand. The mud itself was a detritus of pumice stone. The average depth of the water was about four feet. It was comparatively warm, and had a fresh, dewy taste.” Mont Pelee, which was cultivated in spots up to a height of 2,500 feet, was covered to a large extent with dense forests containing a wonderful variety of woods, oaks, cedars, mahogany, silkcotton, ironwood, and palms. THE PROMINENT TOWNS.
St. Pierre was the principal commercial town because of its superior anchorage for ships. Fort Royal or Fort de France is the capital, although it is a much smaller town. St. Pierre lay along a low shore extending inland five or six blocks until it abutted against the steep slope of a mountain. It extended along the shore for nearly five miles. About the middle of the town was the opening of a gorge which separated two mountains, both dotted with fields of sugar cane, and apparently as solid and as harmless as the Green Mountains of Vermont. Both were volcanoes in their day, but nature found a more convenient safety valve in Mont Pelee, which lies immediately back of these. The crater of Mont Pelee had been wearing its “smoke cap” since May 3d, but there was nothing until May 5th to indicate that there was the slightest danger. On that day a stream of boiling lava burst through the top of the crater, plunged into the valley of