Fire Mountain: How One Man Survived the World's Worst Volcanic Disaster

by Peter Morgan

Book by Morgan, Peter

Genres: History, Nonfiction

1 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Matt Britanak · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting look at the history of volcanic study. Although I initial picked up this book to read about the “lone survivor” who is only allotted what feels like thirty-five pages in the entire book.

[Timothy Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Morgan refreshes the 1902 Mt Pelee' volcanic eruption on the Carib Isle of colonial French Martinique and dispels a few myths along the way. The eventual 1000+ degree pyroclastic explosion wiped out the city of St Pierre, snuffing the lives of an estimated 30,000 souls in seconds. Only a few people survived, one a guy fortunate to be in a jail cell.
Morgan's main character is Ludger Sylbaris a 27 -yr old laborer who's in the drunk tank for disorderly conduct [not for murder, and the day before his execution, as a previous book falsely made up to hype the story.] Morgan expands to other peripheral characters in this wicked morality play about crooked elections, crooked local media, crooked people in power, and a volcano that seems to be telegraphing all present that any day Something Bad Is Going To Happen.
Fittingly, on election day of May 8th, 1902, arounds 08:00, Something Really Bad DID happen. Pelee' belched out a rumbling cloud of super-heated gas, rocks, debris and buried the town. The force was so powerful it scorched and sank all but one or two ships in the harbor. [Those sunken ships still are there today, and you can dive them.]
Morgan's account is valuable in that it discounts much of Gordon Thomas' 1969 version of events in his juiced book "The Day The World Ended." In that book, Sylbaris seemingly is a murderer having visions of penance in his jail cell before he is to be hung the next day blah blah blah. All hogwash. Or thousands of death-dealing venomous Fer-de-lances supposedly invading a village killing over 50 before the town's feral cats kill them off. The deadly snakes are 6 feet long. The cats are, well, cats. Huh? That's after an invasion of giant centipedes and weird ants. Thomas takes a few stories and pumps them full of sensationalistic hot air and Peter Morgan thus takes the pinprick to some of the bloat.
The incredible story boils with the intrigue of elitist white French colonial rule over a politically- awakening black and mulatto population, with attempts to rig the local elections to ensure the powerful stayed in power, all under the rumbling eye of a killer volcano. [The establishment didn't want the city to evacuate, for fear of losing the election, so they ordered everyone to stay put.] Pelee' uncorked on election day. And the port city of St Pierre was destroyed.
Sylbaris survived but was burnt badly in his jail cell. He was discovered, rescued, and eventually recovered. He later went on to tour with Barnum & Bailey Circus, showing his scars to people as part of the Freak Show act.
St Pierre was wiped out, but another version of it was rebuilt upon the ruins but with a drastically-reduced population.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

On May 8, 1902, Mt. Pelée, a volcanic mountain on the Caribbean island of Martinique, erupted, wiping out the city of St. Pierre with its population of 30,000 in less than 5 minutes. Author Peter Morgan writes about this catastrophe with a descriptive style that makes you feel like you are on the scene. Morgan provides a detailed description of the city of St. Pierre in the lead up to the volcanic eruption. St. Pierre was known as the "Paris of the Caribbean" and in the years leading up to the eruption it had become known for its moral decadence. An example was the yearly 4-day carnival before Lent, which was led by masked figures dressed as devils and included men who would dress as women and vice versa. St. Pierre was also a hotbed of class warfare and socialism, which boasted clubs such as the radical group "The Social Future of Martinique."
Socialism was very apparent in Martinique's politics, with frequent clashes between the two main politicians Amédée Knight who led the notoriously anti-Catholic Radical Party and Marius Hurard leader of a group of French landowners.

The description of the volcanic eruption is apocalyptic. The author quotes one sailor who survived, describing the aftermath as "glimpses of Hell." This book is a must-read.

[Kev Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true story of one of the worst natural disasters in history - the eruption of Mount Pelee and the resulting annihilation of the city of Saint-Pierre, Martinique. Very informative in terms of vulcanology and a timely reminder that politicians suck, and Peter Morgan tells, as well as anyone could armed with what information is available, the story of Ludger Sylbaris, a mean drunk who got lucky.

The accounts of that fateful eruption of Mount Pelee and the immediate aftermath makes for a heart-rending read. I had to put the book down a couple of times around the latter parts because I didn’t trust myself to not start crying, especially when reading about the children. I would not be surprised if the Canadian sailors who came ashore in the immediate aftermath all became alcoholics, or at least suffered what would be referred to today as PTSD.

Well-written, well-researched, informative and at times an acid test as to whether or not you’re dead inside.

[Zora · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Marcella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the excerpts from academic papers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Times have changed. Engaging-ish story, lots of colonial history that I didn't know, pretty good.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-moving, journalistically crisp account of the 1902 explosion of Mont Pelee on the Caribbean island of Martinique. The story of the "lone" survivor serves as a framework to anchor the more interesting historical, scientific, and political stories before and after the event.

Compare this book to Simon Winchester's Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 which I recently read. This book is better-written and geared more toward a popular audience, in part because the explosion of Mont Pelee was not as historically or scientifically noteworthy as Krakatoa, but also because Morgan is a better writer.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible story of the total destruction of St. Pierre, the French colonial city on the island of Martinique. The author slowly builds up to the violent eruption of Mont Pelee by examining the colonial history of St Pierre and introducing the many characters who are destined to face the twentieth century's own version of Pompeii.

A very well written book let down only by the rather poor quality of the accompanying photographs.