MONT PELEE AND ITS HARVEST OF DEATH 69 
  
. acent. The safety valve was jumping every second, even though 
| we were making twelve knots an hour. For two hours we kept up 
the pace, and then, running into clear daylight, let the engines slow 
down and we all cheered up a bit.” 
CAPTAIN CANTELL VISITS THE “ RODDAM = 
Captain Cantell went on board the Roddam, whose frightful 
condition he thus describes : 
“At St. Lucia, on May 11th, I went on board the British 
steamship Roddam, which had escaped from the terrible volcanic 
eruption at Martinique two days before. The state of the ship 
was enough to show that those on board must have undergone an 
awful experience. 
“The Roddam was covered with a mass of fine bluish gray 
dust or ashes of cement-like appearance. In some parts it lay two 
| feet deep on the decks. This matter had fallen in a red-hot state 
  
all over the steamer, setting fire to everything it struck that was 
burnable, and, when it fell on the men on board, burning off limbs 
and large pieces of flesh. This was shown by finding portions of 
human flesh when the decks were cleared of the debris. The rig- 
ging, ropes, tarpaulins, sails, awnings, etc., were charred or burned, 
and most of the upper stanchions and spars were swept over- 
board or destroyed by fire. Skylights were smashed and cabins 
were filled with volcanic dust. The scene of ruin was deplorable. 
“The captain, though suffering the greatest agony, succeeded in 
navigating his vessel safely to the port of Castries, St. Lucia, with 
eighteen dead bodies on the deck and human limbs scattered about. 
A sailor stood by constantly wiping the captain’s injured eyes. 
“TI think the performance of the Roddam’s captain was most 
  
wonderful, and the more so when I saw his pitiful condition. I do