April 27, 1812 Eruption of Soufriere St. Vincent
Soufriere St. Vincent in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines erupted on April 27, 1812 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 4. The eruption killed 56 people.
Where it erupted
Soufriere St. Vincent, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
- Date
- April 27, 1812
- Volcano
- Soufriere St. Vincent, stratovolcano
- Volcanic Explosivity Index
- 4, large (eruption column 10 to 25 km)
- Killed by
- Tephra (ash, bombs, lapilli, steam blasts); Secondary (post-eruption) mudflows
- Location
- 13.330° N, 61.180° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 56
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Few (about 1 to 50)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Most fatalities were workers killed by falling hot stones and hut collapses. Some killed in a lake burst a few months after the eruption. (reference #1412, #9675)
[...] heavily affected by the eruption, including lahars, and thick ash fallout. The 1812 eruption seems to have had a single climactic phase, with a peak of activity over night on April 30th [...] The main impacts of the 1812 eruption were confined to the northern half of the island. Here, there was a significant, but short-lived, impact on the infrastructure (primarily damage to plantations). Fifty six deaths were reported (Foster Huggins, 1902), although there are no details known of when, or how, these occurred. (reference #12922)
Other significant eruptions of Soufriere St. Vincent
More
Every eruption in 1812The 1800sSoufriere St. VincentEarthquakes near Soufriere St. VincentThis day in weather history
Sources
Volcanoes and significant eruptions from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 4197.