LA Catastrophe: The Eruption of Mount Pelee, the Worst Volcanic Disaster of the 20th Century

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding study of the 1902 disaster.
Review: It seems there has been a lot of attention focused on the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee and its destruction of Saint-Pierre recently, and this book stands out as a wonderful account of the events surrounding it. Alwyn Scarth is an exceptionally literate writer and provides a very frank and objective analysis of the events before and after the eruption as well as copious detail on the eruption itself. His writing style is dry at times, but it is enhanced by the occasional wry humor and his portraits of the people of Martinique, especially those of Father Mary and the captain of the cruiser Suchet.

Scarth presents a great number of original documents from a variety of sources (sometimes providing photos of originals such as French naval telegrams), and provides as many eyewitness accounts as possible. Although the eruption of Pelee is the subject of the book, Scarth spends a comparable amount of time on the society of Saint-Pierre and Martinique, particularly the apartheid-based social structure and contentious politics of the colony. He also makes an admirable attempt to show that past accounts that accuse Governor Mouttet of forcing citizens to stay in Saint-Pierre to vote are groundless, and he recounts the political arrogance of the post-eruption administration.

Scarth also refutes several myths about the eruption, especially the belief that Louis-Auguste Sylbaris was the sole survivor and that 30,000 people or more were killed (the likely number is several thousand fewer). He presents Saint-Pierre as a busy and modern colonial city, but vehemently disagrees with any romantic notions of a "Paris of the East Indies."

The geology here seems quite oriented to the European, and Scarth sometimes uses terms that may confuse Americans unfamiliar with volcanoes (he never equates the term 'nuee ardente' with the more common 'pyroclastic flow'), but his descriptions of the nature of stratovolcanoes and their nature is right on; he goes so far as to give Pelee a personality of sorts (describing the murderous volcano as sitting 'innocently under a clear blue sky' minutes after its terrible eruption) that seems to fit in well with the portraits of the other figures on Martinique.

Like many accounts of disasters, there is plenty of 'if only... if only...' here, but Scarth does not seek to blame anyone here: there was simply nothing most residents of Saint-Pierre could do about Pelee. They had no idea what it was capable of, few could afford to move even to other parts of the island, and the city of Saint-Pierre logically seemed the safest place on the island with all of its resources. Nobody knew what a pyroclastic flow was, and the greatest fear was of an earthquake of the type that had damaged the island's capital of Fort-de-France in the past. The only figure to get skewered is the governor who succeeded Mouttet for his awful handling of the terrified residents of La Morne Rouge and his miserable management of the refugees.

The images Scarth presents of the eruption are stark and morbid, and although he sometimes seems to revel in its destruction he never fails to commend the heroism of the survivors. Events slowly build to their climax as Ascension Day dawns and the volcano strikes Saint-Pierre down. The last paragraph is rather morbid, recounting the moment of shock just before the city's destruction, but it rightly illustrates the enormity of the moment as the hapless residents of Saint-Pierre realize something horrible is coming to scribe their names into history.

La Catastrophe is a fascinating read. It is objective, exceptionally detailed without becoming boring, and is a fine account of one of the forgotten tragedies of the modern era. Great for any fan of geology, history, or just those who enjoy stories of people coping with great hardship.

Rating:
Summary: VIVID DETAILS
Review: Loved this book, could not put it down, felt like I was there. I want to keep reading .

Rating:
Summary: Decent read - but beware of quality issues!
Review: Spurred on by Scarth's great 'Vulcan's Fury: Man against the Volcano' and my interest in the Pelée disaster of 1902, I purchased this book from Amazon. First of all, Scarth really knows his business and, just as importantly, he knows how to convey it to the audience. However, there are some stylistic aspects that I have trouble with, most of all Scarth's preference for drama, as witnessed in sentences of the '... but little did he know that in a few days...' variety. Already present in 'Vulcan's Fury', it tends to become very annoying in this book. The story doesn't need it, and neither does the book.
The second problem is something that is hardly Scarth's fault, but Amazon sent me a real monday morning copy: low-res images, smeared print, unreadable text, moiréd photographs, the works. I don't know whether this is a unique problem, but you might want to check out this title in a book store - at least be aware of possible quality issues.
All in all a worthwile book, but I'd go with Ernst Zabrowski's 'The last days of St. Pierre' any day. However, it needs to be said that both authors put their emphasis differently, with Zabrowski giving a detailed picture of the days leading up to the May 8 eruption, and Scarth devoting more attention to the events following the disaster.

Rating:
Summary: A huge cloud of red-hot ash and gas shot down the mountain
Review: The volcano Mount Pelée, on the Caribbean island of Martinique did not behave according to scientific expectations. Almost 27,000 people died on the morning of May 8, 1902 because, according to this book's author, no one had ever heard of a nuée ardente (pyroclastic flow) until after the destruction of Saint-Pierre.

Instead of a relatively sluggish stream of lava, a heavy ash-fall, or the earthquake plus tsunami that many were expecting (including the scientific commission appointed by the island's governor), Mount Pelée exploded in a huge lateral blast of gas, dust, and rock. The superheated cloud raced down the side of the volcano with the speed of a hurricane-force wind and headed directly for the port of Saint-Pierre about five miles away.

At 8:02 A.M., May 8, 1902 a businessman in Fort-de-France (an hour's boat trip down the coast of Martinique) was talking on the telephone with a friend in Saint-Pierre. The businessman relates that his friend "...had just finished his sentence, when I heard a dreadful scream, then another much weaker groan, like a stifled death rattle."

Then there was silence. Nearly 27,000 people lay dead or dying at the other end of that telephone line, crushed by falling masonry, asphyxiated by the scalding breath of the nuée ardente, or incinerated in the resulting inferno. There were only two survivors in the city itself: a shoemaker; and a prisoner in a solitary confinement cell who happened to be sheltered in the lee of a hill at the edge of the city.

Alwyn Scarth, former Professor of Geography at the University of Dundee begins "La Catastrophe" with the founding of Saint-Pierre in 1635, and the slaughter of the indigenous Carib population. Unfortunately, the French settlers never paused to question the original inhabitants' choice of name for the mountain that loomed on their northern horizon. 'Mountain of Fire' was renamed 'Bald Mountain,' and the colonists moved on to develop an economy built on slaves, sugarcane and rum without questioning the lack of vegetation on Mount Pelée's summit.

Minor eruptions occurred in 1792 and 1851, causing occasional curious picnickers to struggle up the volcano's slope for a view of the new sulphur vents (soufrières) and hot springs.

Memories of those harmless volcanic sputterings contributed to a false sense of security among residents of Saint-Pierre when Mount Pelée began hurling columns of ash into the air and steaming torrents of mud down her slopes in the spring of 1902.

When "La Catastrophe" appeared in 2002, along with other, similarly-themed books that were hastened onto the shelves (and the remainder tables) during the centennial year of Saint-Pierre's destruction, its author separated himself from the pack by blaming the non-evacuation of the city on her residents' false sense of security, and on their ignorance of pyroclastic flows. He thoroughly debunks the myth presented by some of his fellow-authors, that the inhabitants of Saint-Pierre were forced to stay in town because of a pending election.

Professor Scarth has produced a meticulously-researched account of the "worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century." It is my favorite among the centennial publications, although I found his exposition of the history and sociology of Martinique to be a bit dry.

Here are some of the other myths he discredits while telling the story of this catastrophe:

• Saint-Pierre was never called 'the Paris of the West Indies'--at least not before the 1902 eruption.

• There were more than two survivors. Over a hundred people may have escaped alive from the August 8th nuée ardente, although only two from the city proper. Many of the survivors died shortly thereafter of their external burns and scalded lungs.

• Governor Mouttet was not a villain. He acted courageously in visiting Saint-Pierre on the eve of the eruption, and died believing that the volcano was harmless. The real villain of this story is the man who succeeded him. The new governor had little sympathy for his constituents, and refused to evacuate the still-inhabited villages lying closest to the volcano. Three months after the destruction of Saint-Pierre, Mount Pelée climaxed another period of eruption with a gigantic nuée ardente that claimed another 1085 victims.

• Don't be fooled by the photograph of the ruins on the back of the "La Catastrophe's" dustcover. Saint-Pierre is not a ghost city on the order of Pompeii. According to the author, "nowadays [it] is a hot and sleepy village of about 5000 people."

Rating:
Summary: VIVID DETAILS
Review: The volcano Mount Pelée, on the Caribbean island of Martinique did not behave according to scientific expectations. Almost 27,000 people died on the morning of May 8, 1902 because, according to this book's author, no one had ever heard of a nuée ardente (pyroclastic flow) until after the destruction of Saint-Pierre.

Instead of a relatively sluggish stream of lava, a heavy ash-fall, or the earthquake plus tsunami that many were expecting (including the scientific commission appointed by the island's governor), Mount Pelée exploded in a huge lateral blast of gas, dust, and rock. The superheated cloud raced down the side of the volcano with the speed of a hurricane-force wind and headed directly for the port of Saint-Pierre about five miles away.

At 8:02 A.M., May 8, 1902 a businessman in Fort-de-France (an hour's boat trip down the coast of Martinique) was talking on the telephone with a friend in Saint-Pierre. The businessman relates that his friend "...had just finished his sentence, when I heard a dreadful scream, then another much weaker groan, like a stifled death rattle."

Then there was silence. Nearly 27,000 people lay dead or dying at the other end of that telephone line, crushed by falling masonry, asphyxiated by the scalding breath of the nuée ardente, or incinerated in the resulting inferno. There were only two survivors in the city itself: a shoemaker; and a prisoner in a solitary confinement cell who happened to be sheltered in the lee of a hill at the edge of the city.

Alwyn Scarth, former Professor of Geography at the University of Dundee begins "La Catastrophe" with the founding of Saint-Pierre in 1635, and the slaughter of the indigenous Carib population. Unfortunately, the French settlers never paused to question the original inhabitants' choice of name for the mountain that loomed on their northern horizon. 'Mountain of Fire' was renamed 'Bald Mountain,' and the colonists moved on to develop an economy built on slaves, sugarcane and rum without questioning the lack of vegetation on Mount Pelée's summit.

Minor eruptions occurred in 1792 and 1851, causing occasional curious picnickers to struggle up the volcano's slope for a view of the new sulphur vents (soufrières) and hot springs.

Memories of those harmless volcanic sputterings contributed to a false sense of security among residents of Saint-Pierre when Mount Pelée began hurling columns of ash into the air and steaming torrents of mud down her slopes in the spring of 1902.

When "La Catastrophe" appeared in 2002, along with other, similarly-themed books that were hastened onto the shelves (and the remainder tables) during the centennial year of Saint-Pierre's destruction, its author separated himself from the pack by blaming the non-evacuation of the city on her residents' false sense of security, and on their ignorance of pyroclastic flows. He thoroughly debunks the myth presented by some of his fellow-authors, that the inhabitants of Saint-Pierre were forced to stay in town because of a pending election.

Professor Scarth has produced a meticulously-researched account of the "worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century." It is my favorite among the centennial publications, although I found his exposition of the history and sociology of Martinique to be a bit dry.

Here are some of the other myths he discredits while telling the story of this catastrophe:

* Saint-Pierre was never called 'the Paris of the West Indies'--at least not before the 1902 eruption.

* There were more than two survivors. Over a hundred people may have escaped alive from the August 8th nuée ardente, although only two from the city proper. Many of the survivors died shortly thereafter of their external burns and scalded lungs.

* Governor Mouttet was not a villain. He acted courageously in visiting Saint-Pierre on the eve of the eruption, and died believing that the volcano was harmless. The real villain of this story is the man who succeeded him. The new governor had little sympathy for his constituents, and refused to evacuate the still-inhabited villages lying closest to the volcano. Three months after the destruction of Saint-Pierre, Mount Pelée climaxed another period of eruption with a gigantic nuée ardente that claimed another 1085 victims.

* Don't be fooled by the photograph of the ruins on the back of the "La Catastrophe's" dustcover. Saint-Pierre is not a ghost city on the order of Pompeii. According to the author, "nowadays [it] is a hot and sleepy village of about 5000 people."