St. Pierre

St. Pierre

St. Pierre was once the capital of Martinique. Now it is Fort de France, but in 1902, the capital was here, in St. Pierre. It was a big town then, the commercial center of Martinique, before it was destroyed in a volcanic eruption. The disaster occurred on the 8th of May, 1902. Well, several minor disasters happened in the preceding days, but the main eruption happened on May 8th. For some reason, most of the population stayed in spite of several deaths around the city. When the main eruption came, about 29,933 people were killed, leaving only two survivors, a cobbler in his basement, and a murderer in prison. Twelve ships were destroyed at anchor, while one managed to escape, but with many casualties. This is not the first city that was destroyed by volcano we have visited. Pompeii is famous for it, and we have also visited several other volcanoes in our travels. Perhaps the most famous were Vesuvius, Etna, and Stromboli.
--Orion Date
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