An eyewitness account of the 1812 eruption of the Soufrière of St Vincent

8 Jul

Sharing a post from London Volcano

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The Soufrière of St Vincent erupted dramatically in early 1812, in the first eruption of the volcano that was documented in detail at the time. Like the eruption of 1718, this was a fairly short-lived explosive eruption that was over in a few days. And, as with the 1718 eruption, it followed a period of several of months during which there were earthquakes large enough to be felt by the local populations.

Map of St Vincent from 1775. (JEFFERYS Thomas St Vincent from an Actual Survey made in the year 1775 after the Treaty with the Caribs. London: Printed for Robt. Sayer (1775). Image from Pennymead.com Map of St Vincent from 1775. (Thomas Jefferys, St Vincent from an Actual Survey made in the year 1775 after the Treaty with the Caribs. London: Printed for Robt. Sayer 1775). Image from Pennymead.com

In 1812, St Vincent was a British colony, and sugar was the major export: in fact, St Vincent ranked second only to Jamaica in terms of sugar production at that time.  The total population of the island in 1812 was around 26,000, 90% of whom were slaves…

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2 Responses to “An eyewitness account of the 1812 eruption of the Soufrière of St Vincent”

  1. deterrent0591 July 24, 2014 at 4:14 pm #

    Awesome, thanks for showing such accounts. Volcanic activity is always fascinating. I had to get a clue from a video showing the worst eruptions in history.

    Reply

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  1. There’s (volcanic) dust in the archives | volcanicdegassing - August 14, 2014

    […] vials of volcanic ash – all collected on Barbados. The smallest vial is of ash from the 1812 eruption of St Vincent. The three other vials are samples of ash that fell on Barbados during eruptions between May 1902 […]

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