Give a detailed account of. • the political situation in the city• the political situation in the city • the reaction of the papers to the events • the behavior of captain of the Italian bark Marino Lebofte • the actions of the shippers V The morning of May 8 dawned bright and clear. There was that great column of vapor and ash rising out of the volcano, but this was no more than was expected. A gentle westerly breeze was deflecting the ash fall away from the city for the first time in many days, and the air was pleasantly breathable. Eighteen vessels lay quietly at anchor in the harbor. Church bells tolled, for it was Ascension Day. It was 7:52 a.m. by the clock of the Hopital Militaire when the cataclysm started: four staccato report were heard from the mountain. About 7:59, the volcano blew apart. At 8:02 the hands of the big clock stopped forever, marking the time that the city died. A glowing cloud of superheated gases and incandescent solid particles descended on, and enveloped, Saint-Pierre. It burst from the side of the mountain rather than the top, which had been plugged tightly by a semisolid mass of viscous lava whose withholding strength was apparently greater than that of the flanks of the cone. Under tremendous gas pressures, a fissure was explosively forced open and the cloud shot laterally and directionally, with hurricane speed, at the city. The initial velocity of the emulsion cloud has been estimated at between 100 and 180 miles an hour. It completely passed over Saint-Pierre in a matter of three to four minutes from the time of its expulsion from the volcano, leaving nearly thirty thousand people dead or dying in its wake. Those on board vessels in the harbor fared little better. The following is the account of Assistant Purser Thompson, on board the Roraima: I saw St.Pierre destroyed. The city was blotted out by one great flash of fire. Nearly 40,000 people were killed at once. Of eighteen vessels lying in the roads, only one, the British steamship Roddam escaped and she, I hear, lost more than half of those on board. It was a dying crew that took her out. Our boat, the Roraima, arrived at St. Pierre early Thursday morning. For hours before entering the roadstead we could see flames and smoke rising from Mt. Pelee. No one on board had any idea of danger. Captain G.T.Muggah was on the bridge, and all hands got on deck to see the show. The spectacle was magnificent. As we approached St. Pierre we could distinguish the rolling and leaping of red flames that belched from the mountain in huge volumes and gushed into the sky. Enormous clouds of black smoke hung over the volcano... There was a constant muffled roar. It was like the biggest oil refinery in the world burning up on the mountain top. There was a tremendous explosion about 7:45, soon after we got in. The mountain was blown to pieces. There was no warning. The side of the volcano was ripped out and there was hurled straight toward us a solid wall of flame. It sounded like a thousand cannon.
The air grew stifling hot and we were in the thick of it. Wherever the mass of fire struck the sea, the water boiled and sent up vast columns of steam. The sea was torn into huge whirlpools that careened toward the open sea. One of these horrible, hot whirlpools swung under the Rorai-ma and pulled her down on her beam end with the suction. She careened way over to port, and then the fire hurricane from the volcano smashed her, and over she went on the opposite side. The fire wave swept off the masts and smokestacks as if they were cut by a knife. Captain Muggah was the only one on the deck not killed outright. He was caught by the fire wave and was terribly burned. He yelled to get up the anchor, but before two fathoms were heaved in, the Rorai-ma was almost upset by the boiling whirlpool and the fare wave had thrown her down on her beam ends to starboard. Captain Muggah was overcome by the flames. He fell unconscious from the bridge and overboard. The blast of fire from the volcano lasted only a few minutes. It shriveled and set fire to everything it touched. Thousands of casks of rum were stored on St. Pierre, and these were exploded by the terrific heat. The burning rum ran in streams down every street and out into the sea. This blazing rum set fire to the Roraima several times. Before the volcano burst, the landings of St. Pierre were covered with people. After the explosion, not one living soul was seen on the land. Only twenty-five of those on board were left after the first blast. The French cruiser Suchet came in and took us off at 2 p.m. She remained near by, helping all she could, until 5 o'clock, then went to Fort de France with all the people she had rescued. At the time it looked as if the entire north end of the island was on fire (5). Ш Suggest how the following could be expressed in Russian: the morning dawned bright and clear; column of vapor; this was no more than was expected; the air was pleasantly breathable; church bells tolled; the volcano blew apart; the hands of the clock stopped forever, marking the time that the city died; a glowing cloud; it burst from the side of the mountain rather than the top; the top had been plugged tightly; withholding strength; explosively forced open; the cloud shot laterally and directionally; in a matter of three to four minutes; leaving nearly thirty thousand people dead; the city was blotted out; all hands got on deck; the spectacle was magnificent; the rolling and leaping of red flames; a constant muffled roar; the side of the volcano was ripped out; the fire rolled in mass; the town vanished before our eyes; the air grew stilling hot; in the thick of it; the sea was torn into huge whirlpools; the fire wave swept off the masts; it set fire to everything it touched; the people she had rescued; it looked as if the entire north end of the island was on fire
|
The wave of fire was on us and over us like a flash of lightning. It was like a hurricane of fire. I saw it strike the cable steamship Grapper broadside on, and capsize her. From end to end she burst into flames and then sank. The fire rolled in mass straight down upon St. Pierre and the shipping. The town vanished before our eyes.
