Some of the afflicted residents panicked and headed for the perceived safety of larger settlements, especially Saint-Pierre, about 10 km (6.2 mi) south of Pelée's summit.

[3] Mount Pelée remained relatively quiet until the afternoon of 5 May when a mudflow swept down a river on the southwest flank of the volcano, destroying a sugar mill.

A ground-hugging cloud of incandescent lava particles, suspended by searing turbulent gases called a pyroclastic surge, moved at hurricane speed down the southwest flank of the volcano.

One survivor within the city was a prisoner (Ludger Sylbaris) who was locked in a windowless underground jail cell, later being discovered by rescue workers.

[citation needed] Before the 1902 eruption, as early as the mid-19th century, signs of increased fumarole activity were present in the Étang Sec (Dry Pond) crater near the summit.

On 25 April the mountain emitted a large cloud containing rocks and ashes from its top, where the Étang Sec caldera was located.

On 27 April, several excursionists climbed the mountaintop to find Étang Sec filled with water, forming a lake 180 m (590 ft) across.

There was a 15 m (50 ft) high cone of volcanic debris built up on one side, feeding the lake with a steady stream of boiling water.

[citation needed] Farm animals started dying from hunger and thirst, as their sources of water and food were contaminated with ash.

On Wednesday 7 May at around 04:00, activity increased; the clouds of ash caused numerous bolts of volcanic lightning around the mountaintop, and both craters glowed reddish orange into the night.

News of the Soufrière volcano erupting on the nearby island of Saint Vincent reassured the people, who believed it was a sign that Mount Pelée's internal pressure was being relieved.

However, Captain Marina Leboffe's barque Orsolina left the harbor with only half of his cargo of sugar loaded, despite shippers' protests and under threat of arrest.

[7] Governor Louis Mouttet and his wife stayed in the city, although he planned to make an excursion closer to the volcano in the morning.

[8] The horizontal pyroclastic surge hugged the ground and sped down towards the city of Saint-Pierre, appearing black and heavy, glowing hot from within.

The cable repair ship, CS Grappler, floating offshore, was set on fire and sunk by the surge, with the loss of all hands.

At the time of the eruption, Saint-Pierre had a population of about 28,000, which had swollen with refugees from the minor explosions and mud flows first emitted by the volcano.

A number made their way to Le Carbet, just south of Saint-Pierre behind a ridge that protected that town from the worst of the pyroclastic flow; survivors were rescued on the beach there by Martinique officials.

[11] Compère-Léandre stated the following when asked about his survival: I felt a terrible wind blowing, the earth began to tremble, and the sky suddenly became dark.

I turned to go into the house, with great difficulty climbed the three or four steps that separated me from my room, and felt my arms and legs burning, also my body.

At this moment four others sought refuge in my room, crying and writhing with pain, although their garments showed no sign of having been touched by flame.

The fierce heat beat back landing parties until nearly 15:00, when the captain came ashore on the Place Bertin, the tree-shaded square with cafés near the center of town.

Meanwhile, a number of survivors had been plucked from the sea by small boats; they were sailors who had been blown into the water by the impact of the blast, and who had clung to wreckage for hours.

In the village of Le Carbet, shielded from the fiery cloud by a high promontory at the southern end of the city, were more victims, also badly burned; few of these lived longer than a few hours.

Many victims were in casual attitudes, their features calm and reposeful, indicating that the eruption blast had reached them without warning; others were contorted in anguish.

Thousands of victims lay under a shroud of ashes, heaped in windrows metres deep, caked by the rains; many of these bodies were not retrieved for weeks, and few were identifiable.

[13] Multiple U.S. ships were dispatched to the island with haste, namely the cruiser Cincinnati, lying at Santo Domingo; the Dixie, a converted freighter which carried Army rations, medical supplies and doctors;[4] and the Navy tug Potomac at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

They therefore request that, for the purpose of rescuing the people who are in such deadly peril and threatened with starvation, the government of the United States may send as soon as possible the means of transporting them from the stricken island."

The U.S. Congress voted for $200,000 of immediate assistance and set hearings to determine what larger sum might be needed when the full nature of the disaster could be learned.

On May 20, a second eruption similar to the first one in both type and force obliterated what was left of Saint-Pierre, killing 2,000 rescuers, engineers, and mariners bringing supplies to the island.

[1] The study of the causes of the disaster marked the beginning of modern volcanology with the definition and the analysis of the deadliest volcanic hazard: pyroclastic flows and surges, also known as nuées ardentes (Fr: burning clouds).