 It is 2007 and an old film is being restored. It has long been thought to have been lost. The movie from French pioneer George Millies has eluded movie historians. It has long been mislabeled as another film by another early director but the lost media has seen the projector once again. The movie depicts in its own unique style the 20th century's worst volcanic eruption in which 30,000 people would be consumed by the disaster in just a matter of minutes. The film's name is exact and to the point the eruption of Mount Pelay, a beautiful island with a deadly inhabitant. Martinique is part of the archipelago of the Antilles located in the Caribbean Sea. The island is beautiful with its most prominent feature Mount Pelay overlooking all who call the land mass home. The highest point at 1397 meters or 4583 feet above sea level and is thought to be roughly 400,000 years old. Although a source of beauty, Mount Pelay has also been the source of death on the island erupting several times in its recorded history. People have been known to occupy the island since the first century initially by the arowax then by the caribs. The island was chartered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus from his vessel. Europeans on another Columbus voyage wouldn't set foot on the island until 1502. Columbus encountered indigenous peoples who called the island Martinio. The name was bastardized into Martinique over generations of European encounters and settlements. Now like many other Caribbean islands, its history was post-European encounter marked by several cases of different settlers. Spanish, French, British and the accompanying battles and naval skirmishes that go along with colonization. And when Europeans weren't fighting with one another, they fought with the indigenous people. But I don't think I can do this part of the island's history justice, instead I'll focus on our main point for our story, the city of Saint Pierre. It was founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain, a French trader and adventurer. It served as the first permanent French colony on the island. It would become one of the cultural and financial centres of the island, but also the source of a loss of poor luck. In 1780 all of the houses in the city were destroyed by a storm surge which killed roughly 9,000 inhabitants. The city was rebuilt and gradually repopulated, garnering the name Paris of the Caribbean. By the end of the 19th century, the city's population was between 25 and 28,000, but the new century would start off with a disaster. Mount Pele erupts. Mount Pele had been indicating it was due for full blown eruption since 1792, with the first of two minor eruptions, the second of which took place in 1851. It would take roughly 52 years for Mount Pele to truly unleash her power. In April 1902, people who had gone close to the top of the mountain noticed sulfurous vapours emitting from newly formed holes known as fumaroles. Not much was thought of this, as others had appeared and disappeared previously. However, this time it was bad. By the 25th of April 1902, a large cloud emerged from the top of the mountain, throwing rocks out. No one and nothing was damaged, and as such nothing more was thought of it. The next day, an explosion near the mountain top occurred, coating the surrounding area with ash, and again authorities saw little to be concerned about. On the 27th, a group of hikers climbed Pele to discover a new lake 150 metres wide, or 590 foot wide, had been formed. The smell of sulfur was unbearable, and over the coming days it descended down the mountain to Saint-Pierre, some 6.4 miles away. The stench made animals and humans feel sick alike. A couple of villages closer to the volcano were increasingly becoming covered in ash. The Riviera de Perez and the river Roxalane began to bulge at their banks, pushing rubble and debris along their journeys down the mountain. Pele was warning it was about to blow. A couple of days later, on the 2nd of May, at 11.30 in the evening, Pele omitted sounds of explosions. The ground rumbled, and the mountain blew out black smoke. Half of the island was scattered with pumice, dust and ash. As the 2nd turned into the 3rd, a change in wind direction pushed the ash northwards away from the island. But on Saturday the 4th, ash would once again fall on Saint-Pierre. Some decided to flee the city, but others from the villages around the area sought out Saint-Pierre for refuge. Brief lull came in the morning of Monday the 5th, but by around lunchtime, smoke and dust reappeared. One of the crater's walls up Mount Pele collapsed, causing a lahar of mud and boiling water to thunder down the Blanche River, flooding a local sugar works. Saint-Pierre received more refugees throughout the day, as well as some residents deciding to flee. You see it was thought that the city would be safe, as such officials encouraged a population to stay put, even refusing ships permission to depart. But it would turn out to be anything but safe. The city was plunged into darkness as the electrical grids succumbed to the atmospheric changes. In the early hours of the 7th of May, explosions rang out from Pele, a mountain top glowed orange. Another lull came in the form of the eruption of Saultierre Saint-Vincent on the island of Saint-Vincent. This smaller disaster was hoped would reduce the pressure on Pele. At 7.52 on the 8th of May, thought difference was receiving a radio transmission from Saint-Pierre. Apparently all was looking good, but suddenly the transmission went dead. A mushroom cloud over Pele had shot up into the sky. A pyroclastic surge shot down the mountainside, sticking to the ground directly at Saint-Pierre. The cloud was traveling at roughly 100 miles an hour, or 160 kilometers an hour, hitting temperatures of over 1000 degrees centigrade, nearly 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Upon reaching the city, it smashed through buildings, animals and humans alike. Anything that could burn did. A ship, the C.S. Grappler sunk, taking all aboard with her. A handful of survivors who were on the fringes of the city managed to make their way out, but most would die of severe burns. The pyroclastic cloud had covered an area of roughly 21 kilometers squared. Saint-Pierre was now silent and cut off to the outside world. The governor of the island, Louis Moutette, was in the city at the time of the disaster. Now leaderless, a standing governor ordered a French cruiser to sail to the city to find out the cause of the silence. She was the French cruiser, Suchet, and managed to rescue 30 people from damaged vessels which had tried to escape Saint-Pierre. The city was ruined and burning, and an estimated nearly 30,000 people had perished. The cleanup began within a few days, systematically rescuers made their way through the ruins. Many of the dead looked calm, almost frozen in time. It just went to show how quickly the city was demolished, aftermath. On the 12th of May, the US Congress voted for a $200,000 available foreign aid for the island. More countries also offered a helping hand. These included Canada, the UK, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Japan, Russia, and the Vatican. Officially there would be only two survivors from Saint-Pierre. Louis, Auguste, Cyprus, a prisoner held in an underground cell in the town's jail, and Lyon, Compierre, Lundry. In reality there were more survivors, but these two were pulled from the city's rubble, whereas others had managed to evacuate themselves. But Mount Pelé wasn't finished with Saint-Pierre. Thousands of rescuers by the 20th of May had flooded the stricken city, searching for anyone, both alive or dead. A second eruption emerged from Pelé, sweeping a pyroclastic flow into Saint-Pierre once again, killing around 2,000 rescue workers. But that still wasn't the end. On the 30th of August, another pyroclastic flow struck Mourn-Rouche, Adupa, Bullion, Bassier-Pont, and Mourn-Capot, killing close to 900. It would still not be the end of the eruptions from Pelé, however, which, after many lulls and lava flows, would finally end on the 5th of October 1905. Saint-Pierre would never return to its pre-eruption population. In the 60s, the city had a population of around 6,000, but by the 2010s, this had reduced to around 4,000. Needless to say, the disaster captured the imagination of many across the globe. I mean, it is one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in modern history. And it brings us back to the rediscovery of George Millier's long, lost technical marvel of a film. New volcanic eruptions are captured as they happen, but we need to appreciate that this film was made in 1905, using in-camera special effects at the time. And it is very impressive to watch. This is a plain difficult video. All videos on the channel are creative commons actuation share like licensed. Plain difficult videos are produced by me, John, in the currently sunny, but windy corner of southern London, UK. I'd like to thank my Patreons and YouTube members for your financial support, as well as the rest of you for tuning in every week to listen to me talk about random subjects. I've got Instagram and Twitter, so check them out if you fancy seeing other things I do. And if you're enjoying this outro song, please feel free to go over to my second channel made by John. And all that's left to say is thank you for watching, and Mr Music, play us out please.