Pliny Sails Toward the Cloud

The route of Admiral Pliny the Elder from Misenum to Vesuvius and on to Stabiae during the eruption, and at Misenum his nephew with a book.

Transcript

The Bay of Naples. From Misenum to the mountain it is almost thirty kilometers across the bay.

The wind carries the ash to the southeast. Straight toward Pompeii and Stabiae.

The galleys sail toward the mountain. Ash rains onto the deck, thicker and hotter, then pumice and black stones.

Suddenly the sea recedes and debris blocks the shore. The helmsman wants to turn back.

Fortune favors the brave, the admiral replies. Head for Pomponianus.

At Stabiae his friend’s baggage is already aboard. But the wind blows from the sea and he cannot sail.

At night broad flames glow on the mountain. The admiral reassures them: abandoned villages are burning. And he falls asleep.

In the morning it is already day everywhere else. Here a darkness reigns, thicker than any night. People go out into the open with pillows tied to their heads.

The admiral goes down to the shore. The sea is still rough.

And at Misenum his seventeen-year-old nephew asks for a volume of Livy. And reads.