Roraima
Steamship · United Kingdom · Lost 1902 · The Lesser Antilles
A steamer at anchor in St Pierre harbour when Mount Pelée erupted in 1902, destroyed with nearly all aboard in one of the era's worst disasters.
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The Vessel and Her Loss
Roraima was a Quebec Steamship Company vessel on a routine Caribbean run when she anchored at St Pierre, Martinique, in early May 1902. On the morning of 8 May the nearby volcano Mount Pelée erupted, sending a pyroclastic flow across the harbour that set the ship ablaze and killed nearly everyone aboard. Her wreckage remains in St Pierre's bay alongside other vessels lost that day.
Vessel
- 1892
- Not established
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- Steel
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- Steam, single screw
- Quebec Steamship Company
Loss
- May 8, 1902
- Fire
- St Pierre harbour, Martinique
- Caribbean Sea
- Not established
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- Most of those aboard were killed by the eruption; an exact figure is not established in the sources reviewed.
- Not established
The Wreck Today
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- Broken and scattered remains on the harbour floor
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Position
- 14.75° N 61.18° W
- Approximate position
- St Pierre, Martinique
Position rounded to the general anchorage area of St Pierre harbour.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (68/100)
Exact numbers aboard and lost, and the present condition of the remains, are not established in the sources reviewed.
Historical accounts of the 1902 Mount Pelée eruption
Loss date, cause, and location.
