The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-11
AS SEEN BY AN EYE WITNESS.
First Mate of the ROraIma Tells OF
the Awful storm.

Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadalupe, May 10
Saturday morning: The first mate of
the Roraima thus describes the dis
aster at st. Pierre:
Between $50 O'Clock and O'Clock on
the morning of Thursday, without
warning there came a. sort of whrling
of steam, boiling mud and fire, which
suddenly swept the city and the road
stead. There were, some eighteen YES
sells anchored in the harbor, including
the Roraima- the French sailing ship
Tamaya, four larger sailing ships and
others. The vessels Immediately can't
ed over and began to burn. The Ia
maya was a bark from Nantes, Capt.
Maurice, and was on her way to
Pointe-a-Pitre. All the boats except
the Roraima sank instantly and at the
same moment
Every house ashore was utterly de-
stroyed and apparently buried under
the ashes and burning lava.
An officer who was sent ashore
into the city. He found only a few
walls standing and the streets literally
paved with corpses. The governor of
the island, who had arrived only a few
hours before the catastrophe was
killed. Both the English and Ameri-
can consuls, with their families, were
reported to have persisted. 1t is GER
tain that no more than forty out of
the $4,000 people could have escaped"
The cruiser Suchet was here yester-
day buying provisions for the surviv-
ors in the outlying districts. She sailed
for Fort de France last night with
large quantity of stores, which were
Immediately put under military guard.
Negroes are f1ocking in vast numbers
into Fort de France from the sur
rounding country demanding food.
The SOufriese in Eruption.
A telegram from Fort de France says
that hot mud and cinders have been
falling all night throughout the island
and still continues doing great dam
age, and that when the final reports
are received it will be found that many
people have been killed or injured in
other parts of Martinique.
The Quebec Line steamship Korona
arrived at the Island of Dominica yes
terday, bringing a number of survivors
from her sister ship, the Roraima. The
captain of the Korona says that the
eruption at St. Pierre was apparently
from a new crater. and that accom-
panying the eruption there seemed to
be a tidal wave which overwhelmed
the shipping.
The SOnfriere in Eruption.
A message from the island of st.
Vincent says:
THE Soufriere has been in state
of eruption for nine consecutive morn
ings On Thursday morning the day
broke with heavy thunder and light
ming, which soon changed into con-
tinous, tremendous roar. Vast col
umns of smoke rose over the mountain,
becoming denser and denser and The
scoria-like hail, changing later to fine
dust, fell upon the adjacent estates.
destroying a vast amount of property.
At Chateau Belair the ashes were
two feet deep in the streets. In Kings
ton they were fully an inch deep and
many large stones fell in the parish
of Georgetown. The earth shock vlo-
lently and at o'clock in the afternoon
a midnight darkness spread over the
country. Thirty people are known to
have been killed and the damage to
property in the Windward district Wa
very heavy.
The storm roared about Soufriere
all night without cessation. but on the
following morning it became intermit-
tent and fainter.
"a report from Barbados says that
on the 18th the sky was heavily over
cast the heat was excessive and there
was a distant sound of thunder Later,
early in the afternoon, dense darkness
set in and a great quantity of vivid
dust fell and continued falling until a
late hour. No damage is reported"