The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-08
ST. PIERRE SCENES.


from the shore the Potomac was halted and
we paused for observations. There was no
longer any question of it. The vapor cloud
was caused by the contact of hot lava or
mud with the waters of the ocean. Through
an occasional rift in this vapor cloud we
could trace a wide slate colored trail from
the waters edge almost TO the crater. The
color of it was remarkably like wet Port
land cement, and with the aid of the pow
erful pair of glasses which had brought
with me it seemed that could see the on
ward movement of the current The width
Of the current appeared to vary, as well as
could be estimated at our distance. from
two hundred to five hundred feet. 1t fol-
lowed a ravine and along its course could
be plainly traced a number of islands.
AWE-INSPIRING PHENOMENA.
Our observations would have been con-
tinued further, but again Mont Pelee fired
into the air. and again the Potomac made
for the open sea as fast as she could turn
her screw. Whoever has seen volcano
in full play has witnessed the most mag
nificent the most awe-inspiring of ma
lures phenomena. Mont Pelee's crater is
said to be 400 feet above sea level and
this last discharge appeared TO ascend
twice as high again as the mountain. At
the mouth of the crater the color OF the
discharge was that of wet Portland ce-
ment, similar TO that of the track of the
molten mass above described. AS ii as
cended and rarified the coors lightened.
The face of II formed into myriads Of con-
volutions, constantly appearing on the sur
face from within, giving the effect of null
titude of slate-colored balloons, which were
instantly fading away and as instantly re-
placed by others. The progress of the
wall of mud-like substance down the noun
tain side could be distinctly traced by the
smoke that arose from il. 1t did not appear
10 be coming at express-train speed, and
yet it reached the sea in about six min
utes, indicating a gait of about forty miles
an hour. There was an indescribable SEN
sation of exhilaration as we stood the
stern of the Potomac as she raced away
from this monster of smoke and molten
matter. We going at gait such
as the Potomac had never achieved before.
Her prov splitting the waves like
| big wedge. Her stern was we'll down in
the water, and the track behind d
streak of foam. Her timbers fairly quiv-
cred with every thrcb. and she pulled.
strained and painted like thing alive. The
stokers shoveled coal as they never SHOW
| eled before In it there the element of
danger, for while we could depend upon it
that the stream of lava would stop at the
| seashore, we could not tell what might
| -.ome out of the cloud of smoke. and there
| was ever present the consciousness of what
| this same crater had done TO the city of st.
| Pierre only ten days before.
Four miles out at sea we again halted.
| The stream from this last discharge had
long since reached the waters edge. and
| now Mont Pelee was obscured by the wall
| of vapor that from the meeting of
molten matter and sea water. With the last
| eruption the Indefatigable had again gone
! seward, and now we'll on her way TO
| Fort de France. We hung around for
| half hour out in the open, and then the
| conditions appearing favorable, steamed in
| opposite the point where the casket con-
| tanning the remains of the American con-
| sui had been dropped when the shore party
| fed for their lives. This time in
| closer than the Potomac had yet APP
| preached a boat was lowered, manned and
| pushed in as eXpeditiously possible, the
| casket was loaded and brought away, and
| at last we were off for Fort de France,
| having accomplished the mission that had
| brought us. The remains of the British
| consul were not recovered. The day we
| were there the commander of the Inde--
defatigable deemed the hazard too great to
warrant the sending in of his men, and
| subsequently there was such a fall of mud
and ashes in ST. Pierre as rendered the re-
| covery of the body impracticable.
! ERUPTION OF MAY 90
The eruption of the following morning
| May 90. carried terror TO the hearts of the
| citizens of Fort de France, fourteen miles
away. where our boat lay in the harbor
1t occurred at o. o'clock in the morning, and
exceeded in volume and violence anything
that had occurred the day before. The di-
| rection of the wind was from Mont Pelee
toward Fort de France, and the approach
of the mountain of smoke was steadily and
! rapidly toward US. 1t was God manifest
in the cloud, and it might be saturated with
| His wrath Perhaps the day of judgment
may produce something more sublimely
! awful, but l doubt it. There seemed no
limits to it's height or breadth. There was
tions, constantly appearing through the
| face of the cloud defaced now and again
by what appeared 10 be a precipitation of
| upon the front of the formation, and in
! it were all the colors of the morning The
morning sum- still good half hour below
| the horizon. lit the summit of it with a
crest of fire. Bedlam had broken loose
| in the city of Fort de France. People
| rushed from their houses in their night
clothes, and the shrieks of women and
! children and the hoarse cries of men were
plainly audible aboard the Sterling They
lined the shore and crowded the piers and
| through the glasses 1 saw that they fought
like wolves for POSSESSION of the rowboats.
| The stampede in the direction of the
warships in the harbor, and presently they
were swarming up the gangways of the
Cincinnati, the interchangeable, the Suchet
and the Queen Regent, the last two being
French and Holland cruisers. The Potomac
| and the Sterling also acquired fair bunch
| of refugees.
We were now under the summit of the
cloud but it had somewhat smoothed its
wrinkled front and been Invested of its
| terrors. For several minutes there was a
| rattle on our decks of small stones, vary
ing in size from a pea to an acorn. This
was followed by soft pellets of warm mud.
and then there sifted down a fine powdered
substance. as soft TO the touch as wheat