The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1902-07-10
MARTINIQUE DISASTER
Weird Experiences of the
Steamship Horace.
CLOUDS OF SAND MET AT SEA.

Decks gs@svered With Volcanic Dust
and Lights Had to Be Lit-Strange
Phenomena at Night-St. Lucia Is
Ianders Regard ST. Pierre Horror
as a Judgment of God.
Weird and interesting were the ex-
perienees of the crew of the British
steamship Horace of the Lamport &
Holt line, which reached New York
from st. Lucia the other morning, says
the New York Herald. The Horace is
commanded by Captain Byrnes.
She touched at Barbados and had
decidedly interesting time in the vicin-
ity of Martinique on Friday, May 8,
when, despite the fact that she was
125 miles from Mont Pelee the ships
decks were covered with lava dust TO
the depth of several inches. 1t was
only through what seemed providential
accident that the steamers engines
were saved from disastrous injury as a
result of the storm of lava dust which
covered them. The Horace brings the
information that the visitation of ST.
Pierre is looked upon by the supersti-
tious islanders as a Judgment of God.
"While in st. Lucia" said an officer
of the vessel, 81 heard several of the
residents telling one another that they
believed the destruction of St. Pierre
was a terrible punishment sent by the
Almighty on account Of the wielSedness
Of the city. don't know about the
divine retribution but ! do know that
st. Pierre was a pretty bad place.
''We had cleared from Barbados"
said Second Engineer Anderson, land
were making our way to St Lucia.
where we were to complete our cargo,
take on a little more coal and then
clear for New York
ION the afternoon of May S CThurs-
day. we noticed a peculiar haze in the
direction of Martinique. The air seem
ed 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 heavy storm approaching.
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 very black sky, an unusual
thing at this season of the year. and
storm was apparently brewing in a di
rection from which storms do not come
at this season As the night wore on
those on watch noticed what appeared
to be great flashes of lightning in the
direction of Martinique. 1t seemed as
though the ordinary conditions were
reversed. and even the forecastse
prophets were unable to offer explanas
tons.
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 n 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.
'arhere would suddenly come great
flashes of light from the dark bank
toward Martinique. Some of them
seemed to spread over great area,
while others seemed to spout skyward,
funnel shaped. All night this contin-
ued and it was not until day came
that the flashes disappeared The dark
bank that covered the horizon toward
Martinique, however, did not fade
away with the breaking of day. and
at 8 in the morning of the 9th (Friday)
the whole section of the sky in that di-
rection seemed dark and troubled.
about o'clock Friday morning
was sitting ON one Of the matches aft
with some of the other engineers and
officers Of the ship, discussing the pc
culiar weather phenomena. / noticed a
sort of grit that got into my mouth
from the end Of the cigar was smok-
ing
''Then I noticed that grit was getting
on my clothes, and finally some one
suggested that we go forward of the
tunnels, SO we would not get the dirt
on u.s. AS we went forward we met
one or two of the sailors from the
forecastle who wanted to know about
the dust that rSas falling on the ship.
Then we found that the grayish look
ing ash was sitting all over the ship,
both forward and aft.
Every moment the ashes rained
down all over the ship and at the same
time grew thicker A few moments
later the lookout called down that we
were running into fog bank dead
ahead Fog banks in that section are
unheard Of at o'clock in the morning
at this season. and we were more than
Mother yes one DackaOe makes