Vesuvius |
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By Pliny the Younger
The 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius was the first volcanic eruption ever to be described in detail. Pliny the Younger, nephew of the great historian, Pliny the Elder, witnessed the eruption and recorded his observations in two letters. Volcanologists now use the term 'plinian" to refer to high-altitude eruption columns which blankets large areas with ash.
On August 24, 79 A.D., the area around Mount Vesuvius shook with a huge earthquake. The mountain's top split open and a monstrous cloud raced upward. The inhabitants of Pompeii were showered with ash, stones, and pumice. A river of mud was beginning to bury the city of Herculaneum. The great historian Pliny the Elder was the commander of a fleet of war ships in the neighboring city of Misenum. He decided to use his warships to rescue people close to the volcano. His nephew, Pliny the Younger, described the huge cloud which towered over the area and his uncle's reaction.
"Its general appearance can best be expressed as being like a pine rather than any other tree, for it rose to a great height an a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast and then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed.
Sometimes it looked white, sometimes blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes it carried with it. My uncle's scholarly acumen saw at once that it was important enough for closer inspection, and he ordered a fast boat to be made ready, telling me I could come with him if I wished. I replied that I preferred to go on with my studies, and as it happened he had given me some writing to do."
The nephew's account continues as the Elder's ships approached Pompeii. "Ashes were already falling, hotter and thicker as the ships drew near, followed by bits of pumice and blackened stones, charred and cracked by the flames . . . Meanwhile on Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasized by the darkness of night. But they could not land because the shore was blocked by volcanic debris, so they sailed south and landed at Stabiae.
Hoping to quiet the frightened people, the uncle asked to be carried to the bath house. Afterward he lay down and ate. Next, hoping to quiet the inhabitants, he went to bed. The volcano did not do likewise, however. By this time the courtyard giving access to his room was full of ashes mixed with pumice-stones, so that its level has risen, and if he had stayed in the room any longer he would never had got out.
They debated whether to stay indoors or take their chance in the open, for the buildings were now shaking with violent shocks, and seemed to be swaying to and fro as if they were torn from their foundations.
Vesuvius as seen from Pompeii
Outside, on the other hand, there was the danger of falling pumice-stones, even though these were light and porous. As a protection against falling objects they put pillows on their heads tied down with cloths.
Finally my uncle decided to leave. The level of ash had risen to the point that departure seemed the best option. The flames and smell of sulphur which gave warning of the approaching fire drove others to take flight and roused him to stand up...then he suddenly collapsed, I imagine because the dense fumes choked his breathing by blocking his windpipe which was constitutionally weak and narrow and often inflamed. His body was found intact and uninjured still fully clothed and looking more like sleep than death.
We also saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the earthquake; at any rate it receded from the shore so that quantities of sea creatures were left stranded on dry sand.
On the landward side a fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame, and parted to reveal great tongues of fire, like flashes of lightning magnified in size.... We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room.
You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying." (Radice 1969)
Today, over two million people live in the immediate vicinity of Mt. Vesuvius. There is no question that Vesuvius will erupt spectacularly once again and make the Pelee eruption of 1902 pale in comparison.