THE TRAGEDY OF MARTINIQUE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12999, 15 December 1902, Page 4

THE TRAGEDY OF MARTINIQUE.

Chief Officer B. S. Scott, of the Quebec liner s.s. Boraima, which was destroyed by a volcanic rain of fire, in the harbour ot St Pierre, on tiie morning of Alay 8, 1902, supplies the “ Strand M-agasino ” with . the following account of the terrible experiences of those on board the ship. Tire vessel left New York on April 26, with a crew of forty-seven and twenty-one passengers. After referring to the fact that Mount Pelee appeared to be in a very active state, and that sand and dust were falling in showers on tho vessel, he says : It was a few moments past 8 a.m. As we stood talking there, the third mate said to ms: “ I must get my camera. I have only one more plate, but this is a sight that must not be missed.” With this he turned and made for his cabin. I never saw him again. Just then, all at once, was a sublime outburst from th© mountain. AVhether more than one crater opened, it would be hard to say, but a conflagration cam© right out of th© mountain in one grand' burst, with a noise so terrible that besid© it a thunder-clap would sound like a pistol-shot alongside the roar'of a twelveinch gun. Then it rolling down' the mountain over the intervening lulls—the molten slag, flame, and smoke, on© immense cloud of it, luminous, awful, rolling down like fire. It took just a moment. As it came sweeping down, there seemed to be an inexhaustible supply following it, an endless tornado of steam .and ashes and burning gas. The inslant we saw this grand outbreak coming towards us, the captain rushed to the bridge, calling to me to heave up anchor. I sprang forward to the main windlass ; the carpenter beside me was bending forward to start the machine going when destruction struck us.

THE THING AA 7 AS INDESCRIBABLE. It seemed to whirl earth and sea before it, just as th© western cyclones wipe up th© trees and everything in their paths; hut this was an explosive whirlwind, setting fire to everything as it went. It was only a few seconds of time, but as it rolled over the intervening mites towards the city, that city was doomed. Lava, fire, ashes, smoke, everything combined, swept down on us in an instant. No railroad train could have ©scaped it. AA 7 © could only see one side of the torrent, but more of it was pouring down the rear of the mountain, creating a tremendous back draught, and increasing the fury about us still further.

(Then came darkness blacker than night, and as the awful ruin struck the waters, it just rolled along, setting fire to.the shore and the ships. The lloraima- rolled and- careened far to port, then, with a sudden jerk she went to starboard, plunging

her lec rail far under water. The masts, smoke-stack, rigging, all swept clean off, and went by the board. The iron smokestack cam© off short-, and the l two steel ma-sts broke off two feet above the deck, perfectly -clean, without a jagged edge, just like a clay pipe-stem struck with a big stick. We had started to heave the but it never left the mud. There we were, stuck fast in hell. The darkness was Something appalling. IV enveloped everything, and was only broken by the burning clouds of consuming gas which gave bursts of light out of the darkness. Hie ship took fire in several places simultaneously, and men, women, and children were dead in, a few seconds of time. This was a few minutes after eight o’clock.

The saloon and the after-end of the ship blazed'up at once l . The Roraima. was lying with a heavy list to starboard, pointing towards the shore. Hot ashes fell thick at first. They were soon followed by a rain of small, hot stones, ranging all the way from the size of shot to pigeons’ eggs. These would drop in the water with a hissing sound ; but where they struck the ship’s deck they did little damage, for the decks were protected with a thick coating of ashes from, the first outburst. After the .stones came a. rain of hot mud, lava, apparently, mixed with water, of the consistency of very .thin- cement. Wherever it fell 'it formed a coating, clinging like glue, so that those who wore no caps it coated, .making a complete cement mask right over their heads. For myself, when I saw the storm coming, I snatched a tarpaulin cover off one of the ventilators, and jammed it down over my head and neck, looking out through the opening. This jsaved me much, but, even so, my beard, face,- nostrils, and eyes were so filled with the stuff that every few seconds I had to break it out of my eyes, in cgder to .-sec. .This mud was not actually buriiing, but it steamed, and there was heat enough in it to dry on the head and form a crust so that it fitted like a plaster-cast. I remember that Charles Thompson, the assistant purser, a fine-looking, burly black from St Kitts, who stood beside me, had Some of the passengers were dressing, some his head so Weighted dowiy with the stuff that he seemed to feel giddy and was almost falling. When he asked me to break the casing off’ his head I was afraid it would scalp him when I took it off. I could 1 feel the heat on my own head very plainly through my tarpaulin covering, and his scalp must have been badly scorched. Everybody was not on deck at this time, still in' their bunks. In some cases they were poisoned almost instantaneously by the; noxious gas. In others they were drowned by the water which swept in hot through the open, port-holes of the submerged state-rooms on tsie starboard side. THE DARKNESS WAS APPALLING, only lit by the flames from the after-end of the ship and by the lurid glare of the conflagration on shore when some big warehouse caught- fire, and the great puncheons of rum burst with a loud report and shot their blazing contents into the air. At I went to the lower bridge, feeling my way along, in order to find the captain. There on the bridge I almost stumbled on a crouching figure with a hideous face, burned almost beyond recognition.

“Who are you?” I cried, for I did not know him, crouched there in the darkness.

The man looked up, his face terrible to see.

“Mr Scott,” he said, “don’t you know me?”

I said, “My God, it’s the captain!” He -got on his feet as best lie could. “Find out,” he said, “how the ship is and what is the condition of our people. Find out how the women and children are.”

After looking round and finding the afterend of the ship all oil fire and people burned and dying everywhere, and fire breaking out in several places forward, I weht back to report to the captain how things were. When I reached the bridge he was gone. He had either fallen overboard or-jinnped to relieve his own sufferings, which must have been -very' terrible. There were only four of ns really ablebodied: Benson, the carpenter; Thompson, the assistant purser ; a black labourer from St Kitts'and myself. The men who helped us were horribly burned, but it was wonderful to see their heroism. Two engineers ■ who bad lost all the skin on their hands were still carrying things about to help using their Upper arms and elbows. The command devolved upon me. The first thing to be done was to get- the fires out forward (for the wind l was blowing off shore and raking the ship), so that wo should not ha cremated alive.

Fortunately the water was calm. It appeared as though the thick rain of mud had smoothed the water, but it- still swirled and- rolled past us, owing to the volcanic currents. The pumps were clogged- and would not work, -but every man still able to walk did his best. Two of them began to lower buckets over the side, and then, forming a fire line, we passed them up forward and- dashed water at .the flames. All this time thick darkness continued.

This was about 8.45. How long we could stay afloat was the question. There was no time for deliberation. All of us who could rushed to the life-belts, which were distributed/ through the ship in varh' ous places, and wo put them round every living soul aboard. When a mother had a child in her arms wo would- pass the preserver right round both of them together. GRADUALLY WE COLLECTED THE SURVIVORS. And laid them on deck forward near hatch No. 1, all of them crying for water, but many of the unfortunates coul'd not drink at all. The. flaming gases had burned their mouths and throats, and even the linings of their stomach, so terribly that in 'many cases the passages of the throat were almost entirely closed, and m-any of the unhappy creatures could not drink at all. When, we put the- water into their mouths it stayed there and almost choked them, and we had to- turn them over to get the water out, and still they would implore us for more. Fortunately the darkneiss was beginning to lift now, the flaming city supplying ns with plenty of light. We broke open the' ice-house door and hauled outl blocks- of ice and broke them into- small pieces. These the sufferers -could hold in their mouths when they could no longer drink. Several of them ha;d their tongues burned out. The coatings of their mouths and tongues and the linings of their noses wore in some instances .entirely gone l , so. that the air when, they attempted to drawbreath would block their throat and nostrils and smother them. t i

All tiiis time the groans and the shrieks of the sufferers were heart-breaking. You read about the rich man in the place 1 cf torment lacking up and asking for water. Well, that is about as near as I can cornel to describing it, but everything that happened sticks in my mind like a nightmare. I can see now one of the passengers, a man, lying on the fo'c’s’le deck, hideously scarred, crying for water. When we gave it to him he could not drink it. It would not pass down his throat. He was. crawling around oar deck on his hands and knees calling for water, and at last we l were afraid he would fall overboard, so with the assistance of another mam I brought him, down to ihte main deck. As soon as ever he gpt theire, bo caught sight of Thompson with his water-can, and at once began toi crawl after him for water, like a dog. Thompson kept giving him drink, but he could not swallow, and the only way to'

keep him from following around after the \ water-can wa® to'attend to him and no one else, -so the poor wretch had to be left.The man’s tongue was literally burned outi of his head. His arm® were cruelly burned from his shoulders to bis finger-ends.. But "the worst burns were internal. The fire did not seem to penetrate'the cb'thing s but ■ , WHEREVER THE FLESH WAS EX* POSED IT BURNED MERCILESSLY. I saw one little coffee-coloured baby fearfully scorched 1 lying in the I ,arms of a whit# nurse called Clara, who had come from New York with a family named Stokes. The child was in a dying condition, with its tongue lolling out. of its mouth and thd skin of the tongue all gone. There 1 was still life in the little thing, and as Thompson came along he gave it some water, but It was no use. Clara’s arms were badly burned, and at last she had to lay it down-.. When she did so the second engineer* Evans, picked it up and held it gdbtly till it died in his arms. Then he laid it in oma of the deck state-rooms. The door was open, so that we could all see it, and tha sight was so pitiful that I want in and, shaking a pillow out of its case, put tha little disfigured body inside and then, laid it on the bed, so that it looked decent and Christian. lam thankful to say that Clara survived and went to the hospital. I think there is a very good prospect of her coming round again. This same Clara helped us take care of Mrs Stokes and her three children, two boys and a girl. The wretched woman’s, mouth could not- open and her teeth were set. We took a small spoon and put some crushed ice between her teeth, and could hear her murmured thanks. Poor creature, . she did not live long enough to sec two of her children die. The elder boy died, ten or fifteen minutes after. Later we got tha baby (who was little mere than an- infant in -arms) and the girl on- the rescue boat* but the baby died before it reached land* These two children and a woman from Mar< t-inique were the only people who asked foi anything to eat. Thompson found) some i-a the, store-room- in the oven keeping, warm. Every eatable outside had been destroyed.^ The women behaved very well, though they were all terribly burned. One big coloured woman, for all her burns and scalds, kept singing hymns. Between the versos her cry was the same as the cry of everybody, “ Givei me water, water. As soon as she got a drink she seemed to ro* vive and then, she would begin her sing* ing again. The last hymn she sang «■ “Nearer, my God, to Thefe,” and then she died where she was sitting. 1 By this time the air was getting a littla purer, sew that it was possible to breathe, j At that'first fierce blast it was so strong and fiery that it .. STRUCK MEN DEAD ON THE SPOT. While Thompson and Thomas, a labourer, were trying to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, Benson, the carpenter, and i went through the different holds of tn( ship. We found the hull tight. ■ ■v\ hat water was in her had come down her hatches when she first- heeled over.. We Winded under the ship and found twentyfive fathoms of water, tneu the second engi* necr reported that the engines and ‘boiler were safe and that-there was no danger* of an explosion. The second and fourth engi' ncei's were seared with fresh scars, but theystayed at their posts to see that the boilers ■' were safe before they left them. It was out of the question to get up steam, however, for there was no smoke-stack and consequently no draught to keep the goincr. Besides, even if the ship -had been able to steam off before the wind the flames in her stern would have swept her decks, instead of burning quietly at the after-end of her as she lay at anchor. It was between 2 and 3 p.m. that a French man-of-war, the Snger, Captain Pierre Le Bris, steamed into the harbour of St Pierre. , , ,l We saw her- coming towards ns, but alter our experience with the Roddam I did not feel sure of anything. We got out the British ensign and, tying it bottom-upward on a stick, lashed it on one oi the port davits, that being the highest stick left on the ship. , . , The -Suger at once answered the signal and sent a boat alongside. Soon she sent two other boats to our aid, towed by a steam launch. Gradually we got the passengers over the side. Those who V” e te most helpless and maimed we lowered first, and those best able to help themselves were left until the last. After the passengers came the crew, then the officers. Ths second engineer went ahead, and I followed last. We left behind us between twenty and thirty dead bodies, some lying about the deck, some in the fo’c’s’le, some, in their ; bunks, where they had been smothered at: THE FIRST FEARFUL BURST OF POISONOUS GAS. , Mv own poor boy was there somewhere. From the moment “of the explosion I nevei saw him again. As wc went away some ,ol the bodies looked so awful that we could not bear to look on them. The only thing I think of now is this: How did we ever come through it all and live to escape the mad-house? . At the time we left the ship she was afire ; from her stem to the aft engine-room bulkhead. As we looked back we saw a strange thino-. A common reed chain, such as you often see on the deck of a Transatlantic liner, was hanging in the air to the ship i. stern. It had been fastened to the after flaw and braced below so that it hung on in space just beyond the reach of the flames. Some poor wretch had it there and sat in it to save himself from, fire, afraid to jump on account.of the fierce rush of the volcanic currents below. We mould seehim Uier-e, sitting in his chair, long before we left the ship, at the back of the solid wall of fire which divided us from him, and he must have suffered terribly before hr dropped from his perch, and went overboard We could not get at him on account) of the fire in the forward part of the saloon, but a state-room was-at hand close by, with plenty of lifebuoys, and he might have gofc one and put it oil > but, strangely enough, after all that fire, there hung the empty chair literally intact. The_ next morning, the 9th, when the ship Corona steamed into the harbour of St Pierre, thecaptain said that the chair was still banging there unharmed. ’ ' . When we were all taken aboard the warship the surgeon and his staff attended carefully to the worst cases, dressing then wounds" and doing everything to alleviate their- suffering. They also did everything possible for the comfort of those who wera not in such aderrible condition. Meantime the man-of-war’s"' launch' steamed up as close to the city as possible, alongside the shore, which was a fiery furnace, and right at the water’s edge they picked up a numbsr of people, amongst others our third officer, Thompson, who had managed. to swim ashore. There were also three others ■ of our people there—one passenger - and a couple of the crew. The whole of the survivors of the Roraima, four of them women, were taken aboard the Suger. Not -ill of them reached Fort de France alive. Some died on the way, others were dead before the next morning; how many ! could not find out. On the morning of the 9th, when I tried to rro to the hospitals, I could only secure » permit to enter one. There I came upon the second engineer and carpenter, the fourth engineer, the quartermaster and two sailors. Two had died there during the night, one a fireman. Everything possibla was being done for the poor fellows, but the doctor told me that the burns were an poisonous, and that wherever a scar wa* deep blood-poisoning set in.