Back in the late 1800s, the town of St Pierre on Martinique’s west coast was the commercial capital of the island, and one of the leading cities in the Caribbean.

St Pierre anchorage
St Pierre street art

With a harbor suitable for the ships that handled the output of the island’s sugar cane refiners and rum distillers, St Pierre boasted an international community of more than 30k people.

Until 1902.

In May of that year, the volcano behind town began to rumble and smoke. A scientific committee was convened – their conclusion was that any eruption would be minor, and in any case the topography of the island would divert any lava flow safely away from town.

Mt Pelèe volcano in heavy cloud cover to the right of the rainbow

The committee was unfortunately incorrect, and when the eruption occurred, it leveled the entire town, killing virtually all of the residents. The pyroclastic flow even incinerated and sank the dozens of boats anchored far out in the harbor.

We visited the town’s museum, The Memorial to the Catastrophe of 1902.  It told the story of the devastating eruption of 1902 and displayed numerous artifacts from the disaster
Watches recovered after the eruption
Display of artifacts recovered from ships that sunk in the harbor- portholes, a lamp, ships bell and binoculars
Town bell after the blast and heat deformed and cracked it

Today, part of St Pierre has been rebuilt, but it’s only home to a few thousand people now, clustered largely around the remnants of the French fort that guarded the harbor.

Cannons from the old French fort