Fire Mountain: How one man survived the world鈥檚 worst volcanic disaster by Peter Morgan, Bloomsbury, 拢14.99, ISBN 0747556768 Reviewed by Tony Jones
SHORTLY before 8 o鈥檆lock on the morning of 8 May 1902, the bustling Caribbean town of Saint-Pierre ceased to exist. Martinque鈥檚 most fashionable resort 鈥� the Pearl of the Antilles, Petit Paris 鈥� was engulfed by an eruption from the nearby Mont Pel茅e, a volcano confidently believed to be extinct. The warning signs had been there for months, if not years, but went unread. In a few short minutes something terrible raged through the town, burning and demolishing buildings and incinerating ships in the harbour. Rescue parties were unable to land for hours due to the intense heat. No one knows for sure how many people died, but the population at the time was estimated to be 30,000, and not one was left alive. Or so they thought.
Peter Morgan recounts the story of the disaster, set against the backcloth of French colonial politics, and traces the Pierrotins鈥� strangely detached relationship with their volcano over a period of more than three centuries. He also describes the subsequent scientific expeditions, often undertaken in hazardous circumstances, that gradually pieced together what had happened and gave a name to a new phenomenon in vulcanology.
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The people of Saint-Pierre were the first recognised victims of a nu茅e ardente, an incandescent avalanche of hot gas, dust, ashes and rocks that burst from Pel茅e鈥檚 summit and swept down the hillside and through the town at around 160 kilometres an hour. It was the prototype for what vulcanologists now call a Pelean eruption.
At least one man survived the inferno. The nominal subject of the book is one Ludger Sylbaris, a 27-year-old plantation worker shut up in the town jail for brawling. On the morning of the disaster he was waiting for his breakfast when the nu茅e ardente struck. Protected by the thick stone walls of the windowless cell, he knew nothing of the surrounding conflagration other than the searing smoke that poured in through the grille in the door. Rescuers found him alive in the ruins of the prison four days after the eruption. His burns attested to his experience, and Sylbaris became something of a celebrity. He was last seen touring the US with Barnum and Bailey鈥檚 travelling circus as 鈥淭he Most Marvellous Man on Earth鈥�, 鈥渢he Only Living Object that survived the Silent City of Death鈥�.