The Foreign Service Journal, May 2020

50 MAY 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL O n May 8, 1902, on the Caribbean island of Martinique, Mt. Pelée erupted, killing more than 30,000 people in the city of St. Pierre within minutes. It was a devastat- ing event, notable as the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th cen- tury (and so far, the 21st). When one thinks of volcanoes, images of smoke and oozing molten lava come to mind. But what doomed the city of St. Pierre was something unfamiliar to scientists at that time: pyroclastic flow. A pyroclastic flow, composed of hot gases, ash and rock, erupts from the volcano with tremendous power and speed, flattening and burning everything in its path. When the end finally came, it must have been an agonizing, horrific death for those in the flow’s destruc- tive path. The warning signs—fumes, smoke, rockslides, lava—were there for weeks. In April, Clara “Louisa” Prentis, wife of U.S. Consul Thomas Prentis, wrote a letter to her sister in Mas- sachusetts, describing how the whole population of the city was on alert, fearing that Mt. Pelée “had taken into its heart to burst forth and destroy the whole island.” Mrs. Prentis had a William “Bill” Bent is a Senior Foreign Service officer currently serving as the deputy consular chief in San Salvador. Previously, he was consul general to Barba- dos and the Eastern Caribbean. Other overseas tours include Kabul, Santo Domingo, Kingston and Prague. He is a graduate of the National War College, Class of 2015. In 1902, the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century (and so far, the 21st) took the lives of U.S. Consul Thomas Prentis and his family on a Caribbean island. BY WI L L I AM BENT FS HERITAGE THE UNLUCKYCONSUL Thomas Prentis and the 1902 Martinique Disaster INTERNETARCHIVEBOOK IMAGES