INTRODUCTION

On June 3rd, 1991, forty three died on Mountain Unzen, Japan, in a violent volcanic eruption. Among them were mostly first responders and journalists, but three out of the forty three were at the center of the media spotlight: French volcanologists and filmmakers Maurice and Katia Krafft and their American colleague Harry Glicken. Glicken had expressed safety concerns, but he stayed nonetheless to fill in for a colleague whose wife was expecting a baby. Eleven years before this accident, Harry Glicken narrowly survived the 1980 Mount. St. Helens eruption. David Johnston took Glicken’s shift — as Glicken would do eleven years later — and left the famous last words “Vancouver, Vancouver! This is it!” His warning never reached Vancouver. The radio and Johnston himself were destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flow in an instant. Glicken and Johnston are the only two American volcanologists to pass away in a volcanic eruption to this date. 

I became obsessed with this story after I read an interview of Carolyn Driedger, a USGS volcanologist who evacuated from St. Helens because of David Johnston’s insistence and remained a close friend of Harry Glicken. On a conference trip in 2007 to Japan, she visited Unzen. She brought some rocks from Mount St. Helens to Mount Unzen, as well as some closure for herself. I cannot summarize the sublime beauty of Carolyn’s story, but you can read more of her story here in an interview with The Columbian.  

Carolyn happens to be a friend of Karen Holmberg, the amazing professor of “Volcanoes: The Sublime and The Scientific.” After I had the idea of writing a story about the rocks that Carolyn brought from St Helens to Unzen, Karen connected us and I had the most wonderful time talking to Carolyn. Hope this story can stand testimony to Carolyn’s wisdom, kindness, and love for her friends. 

 

Titanium Boat 

 

Carolyn, thank you for sharing your memory. 

 

CHARACTERS

HARRY

MAURICE

KATIA

DAVID

CAROLYN

 

SETTING

A red, gray, white-ish space. 

 

“/” indicates an overlap or interruption of speech. 

“[]” indicates unsaid thoughts. 

 

HARRY

What time is it? 

MAURICE

It’s—oh, I don’t have my watch with me. 

HARRY

Oh no, did you leave it at the hotel? 

MAURICE

I never take it off 

KATIA

It’s fine, I’ve got mine. It’s 4:07. 

HARRY

Oh, okay. 

MAURICE

Ahhh, we’ve been waiting long enough.

KATIA

Be patient, dear. Harry, do you have somewhere to be? You don’t have to /

HARRY

No, I was only thinking of my colleague’s baby. 

KATIA

Oh, we really appreciate you being here with us, you really know this country’s volcanos and we do need someone who can /

HARRY

No, don’t mention, I won’t ditch you, I said I’d be here.

MAURICE

I mean, since you’re here, do you wanna try the cameras? 

HARRY

Me? No, I don’t want to mess up your setup. 

KATIA

Dear, it’s just a camera; we can always adjust it.

HARRY

No, it’s really not my area of expertise.

MAURICE

You’ve taken photos of volcanoes? And rocks? 

HARRY

But I’m not a filmmaker. 

MAURICE

We’re not filmmakers either. We’re geologists who make films to pay the bills. 

HARRY

That’s pretty much what being a filmmaker means. People who make films. 

KATIA

If Harry doesn’t want to, we’ll take the footage—don’t be pushy. 

MAURICE

Yes ma’am.

 

They wait. 

 

MAURICE

Where’s my other camera? 

KATIA

What?

MAURICE

My camera? 

KATIA
No, I heard you, that camera should be in the—where is the brown camera bag? 

MAURICE

I don’t know. . .

HARRY

Um—should we end the day early? We can come back tomorrow with /

MAURICE

No no, we’re staying. We can’t miss anything. 

KATIA

You sure? First your watch, then your camera? 

MAURICE

Must be the jet lag. 

KATIA

I’ll stay here, you should go back and take a nap. 

MAURICE

No, I’ll go to bed early tonight, I’m fine. Come on Harry, let’s chat while we wait. 

KATIA

See, Harry? I’m always “worrying too much.” 

MAURICE

So, how’s life?

HARRY

My life? Not much, I mean I still have hope about USGS, you know, the US geological service. There might be an open position next year and I can finally go home. 

MAURICE

That’s it?

HARRY

What do you mean “that’s it”? My life isn’t as exciting as yours, traveling around the world, but it’s not boring either /

MAURICE

No, I didn’t mean it like that. I wanted to hear more. 

KATIA

He meant to ask, how’s your family? 

HARRY

Not bad, my sister just had a baby.

MAURICE

A girlfriend? Boyfriend? 

HARRY

What? No. I don’t have time for romance. 

MAURICE

Do you consider yourself a romantic?

HARRY

Me? Not as much a romantic as you two. 

KATIA

Oh, being married to each other doesn’t make us more romantic than you are. 

HARRY

I don’t have anything to do with being a romantic. I only want to focus on my work at the moment.

KATIA

Oh, Harry, we’re everything but romantic with each other. Romantic with volcanoes? Maybe. 

MAURICE

Uh-hum. We are volcano runners after all. 

HARRY

At least we can still run. 

MAURICE

And run we shall—advance to the volcanoes. 

KATIA

Oh Harry, why don’t you enjoy it then? For the sake of those who can’t run.

HARRY

Because their souls are too heavy to run with. 

 

A Beat. 

 

HARRY

Well, maybe we should call it a day. 

MAURICE

We might as well, the flows have been underwhelming. Is this normal for local volcanoes? 

HARRY

I can’t tell, which is why I think we should let the journalists go. It’s not safe for them. 

MAURICE

Come on Harry, it’s Remember when we used to cook eggs on lava? Katia? 

KATIA

And you tried to make tea. 

MAURICE

If you had known us earlier, Harry. . . you missed many volcano picnics.  

HARRY

I’m serious, Maurice, these people don’t know a single thing about volcanoes besides their tourism brochures. We know better. 

KATIA

Dear, maybe Harry’s right, you need to take a nap anyways.

MAURICE

Evacuate them all if you want, we’ve got all evening. 

HARRY

Maurice, your footage is not something to risk these people’s lives for. You know how deadly pyroclastic flows can be. They don’t. 

MAURICE

Oh boy, I know. I’ve lost more friends and colleagues than you know. And if I get to die here, it will be a happy death. 

KATIA

Harry, I think you are right, this is not the safest place for those people, but no one knows Maurice better than I do and I tell you, he doesn’t give a damn about the risks. This is a meaningless argument— 

MAURICE

Which is why we’re married.  

KATIA

And he’s right. We wouldn’t fall in love if we were scared of danger. 

HARRY

That’s our difference. I don’t, I can’t fall in love with volcanoes anymore. 

MAURICE

Then how do you love your work? 

HARRY

Volcanoes are not something that you fall in love with or have a crush on. They betray you. They take lives. 

MAURICE

Harry, St. Helens didn’t betray you. 

HARRY

She did, she betrayed all of us and made me fall out of love with volcanoes. I only have anger now.  

KATIA

We lose our friends, our loved ones, and we carry on. 

HARRY

No. Not if you’re the one supposed to die. 

KATIA

You carry on, and you try to do twice as much. Falling in love is easier than you imagine. 

HARRY

And David would want me to evacuate the journalists. 

KATIA

And we will. Maurice, this is not for negotiation. 

MAURICE

Love, you’re growing soft. She used to be the more romantic one among us. She was always saying she would take the last picture of me before I die. 

HARRY

And who says aging is a bad thing. 

KATIA

Exactly. Now I only want to die with you. 

MAURICE

Love, we will. 

HARRY plans to evacuate the adjacent field but sees no one there. The journalists and other personnelles have disappeared. 

HARRY

Did they leave—?

KATIA

See, Harry, people take care of themselves. So should you. 

MAURICE

Now we can only hope for a flow grandiose enough. Otherwise it ruins the purpose of an evacuation, doesn’t it? 

 

Night falls. 

The stars are ash gray. 

Or are they lava rocks? 

 

The sun rises. 

 

A woman in her sixties enters. She doesn’t see Harry, Maurice, or Katia. 

 

HARRY

Maurice? Katia? Somebody’s here. Did you two get someone else from the observatory? 

KATIA

Not that I know of. If you don’t recognize her, we certainly won’t either. 

HARRY

No one should be here. I need to get her out of here. 

MAURICE

Maybe one of the journalists decided to come back. The merrier the better. 

HARRY

She looks like a friend of mine, but older. I haven’t seen her since I left for Japan. You know Carolyn Driedger? She was with me and David on St. Helens. 

Ma’am, Ma’am? Hello? Ma’am can you hear me? Do you know Carolyn Drieger? 

KATIA

Maurice. 

MAURICE

Yes. 

KATIA

She can’t hear us. 

MAURICE

Yes. 

KATIA

I think we have [died.]

MAURICE

Yeah. I’ve realized. 

HARRY

(sidebar) Carolyn! Carolyn! 

KATIA

For how long? 

MAURICE

A while. I never take off my watch. 

KATIA

And mine… [has stopped]. You should’ve told me, or at least give a hint. 

MAURICE

And watch everyone mope? Come on. 

KATIA

At least we did die together. 

MAURICE

And they say be careful of what you wish for. Katia, maybe we will forget that we have died tomorrow. 

KATIA

I think we will. 

MAURICE

What do we do then? 

KATIA

We keep waiting for the eruption. Just like what we’ve been doing for the past twenty years. 

 

Throughout MAURICE and KATIA’s sidebar, CAROLYN DRIEDGER climbs Mountain Unzen until she’s at the open field. At the center, she puts down a pile of rocks. HARRY desperately tries to converse with her, but they can’t hear each other. CAROLYN keeps climbing

A man slightly younger than HARRY enters. HARRY freezes. 

 

DAVID

I had always wanted to visit Japan’s volcanoes.   

HARRY

David?

DAVID

Nice to see you again too, Harry. 

HARRY

But you—I—didn’t you—David, I am so sorry.It should’ve been me.

DAVID

Hey—hey man—don’t. Kraffts, would you two help? 

KATIA

Oh David!

MAURICE

Good to see you again. 

HARRY

Am I. . . hallucinating? 

MAURICE

Yes, we’re gone. 

HARRY

Oh—what? 

KATIA

Haven’t you realized? Maurice’s watch? And his camera? 

MAURICE

The watch goes anywhere I go ever since our wedding.

KATIA

And my watch is still at 4:07. It hasn’t moved.  

MAURICE

And I would never forget our cameras, I’d rather die with them than leaving them behind. 

KATIA

And it seems like we did. 

MAURICE

Hey, they found Landburn’s half melted camera, David, with some St. Helens footage. Your last moments. I wonder if people will find my camera and our last moment. 

DAVID

They found the camera but the footage is ruined. Pretty ironic for a filmmaker isn’t it?  

HARRY

How did you know? Is this a—and why, no, how did you get here? 

DAVID

Carolyn. She brought some of me from St. Helens. 

HARRY

What. 

DAVID

The rocks. 

HARRY

Oh. 

DAVID

I’m with St Helens now so it makes sense that I’m also with the rocks. 

HARRY

Oh. How. . .does this work? / Does Carolyn…

DAVID

/ No, she has no idea I’m here. I woke up and found myself trailering behind her. I eavesdropped on her conversation and found out about you three.

HARRY

If, if I knew you had been there this whole time, I would’ve visited more. 

DAVID

It’s okay. I know it must be hard. 

HARRY

I tried to get a position with USGS but there hadn’t been any openings. I want to go back to St. Helens and make up for my fault, / for your  

DAVID

/ Harry, I have been listening to Carolyn talking about you on my way here. I gotta let you know, it wasn’t your fault. And I don’t wanna hear your “buts.” 

HARRY

But it was supposed to be my shift.

MAURICE

Today’s not supposed to be your shift either. Things figure out themselves.

DAVID

Krafft. 

KATIA

David’s right, it was never your fault, and you’ve been letting your guilt take over you. 

HARRY

I wish it was me. 

DAVID

It is what it is. I’ll blame Swanson if it makes you feel better. He’s the one who asked me to take your shift. 

HARRY

No it doesn’t help to blame Swanson, there’s nothing he could’ve done. 

DAVID

And there’s nothing you could’ve done either. Harry, just answer me one question. Would you insist Carolyn and Mindy leave St. Helens if you stayed? 

HARRY

I—I would. 

DAVID

You hesitated. You see, that’s two lives that we saved because you switched shifts with me. 

MAURICE

And a third, your colleague, think of his baby. 

KATIA
If you were at St. Helens, a newborn would’ve lost his father today.  

DAVID

See, not too bad. 

HARRY

What about the journalists and the firefighters? They’re gone, did they, did they—survive? 

DAVID

I’m sorry. 

HARRY

Okay. How many died? 

DAVID

Besides you three, forty. 

HARRY

(To MAURICE and KATIA) I told you. I told you this is too dangerous for those civilians and we should’ve known better than involving them. We gave them the wrong signal. I shouldn’t let you two take the lead /

MAURICE

/ We did what we thought was best. Maybe not to those who passed away but it has been the best for this field. We’re as much of a volcanologist as you are. 

HARRY

You risked people’s lives. You—no—we are responsible for those deaths. 

MAURICE

I risked my own life before anyone else’s and that’s for science! 

HARRY

What kind of science is that /

KATIA

/ That’s enough!

DAVID

Guys. This is a civil conversation. I didn’t travel across the Atlantic to watch you two fight. 

HARRY

David, we set up observatories and stations to keep people out of volcanic hazards. We did the exact opposite here. You know that better than I do. 

MAURICE

We risked our lives so that you can know what to observe! 

KATIA

Don’t be stubborn. You know we could’ve handled it better. 

HARRY

Those people shouldn’t have died. I can never redeem that. It / was my fault 

DAVID
/ Wasn’t your fault. 

KATIA

Yes, we should take blame for risking people’s lives, Maurice; it’s not accusing you of cowardice. We have been as fearless and fair as we can be because we’re always at the frontline. If people die, we’d be the first. And Harry, we are proud of that. 

DAVID

You now have eternity. It would be a pity if you spend it hating each other. 

HARRY

Wait so—does it mean you will stay here / 

DAVID

/ Well I won’t 

HARRY

Oh. I can understand. Nothing better than going home. 

MAURICE

You’re welcome to stay, you know. 

DAVID

No I appreciate it. But I can’t. Most of, me, this entity, are still at St. Helens. The rocks are only temporary and I can feel I’m drifting. 

HARRY

But I have many many things I want to say I want to ask 

DAVID

I don’t have much time. Do me a favor, would ya? 

HARRY

Anything. 

DAVID

You too, Maurice. Listen to each other. To the volcano. We’re a part of it now. Things we did right, things we did wrong, our pride, our guilt. It’s all nothing to the earth. 

HARRY

But it made an impact on the living. 

KATIA

Harry, you’re too nice a person to be this harsh to yourself. 

MAURICE

She’s right. They’re right. We’re better than this. 

HARRY
But I can’t make peace with myself knowing what I’m responsible / 

DAVID

/ Harry, wait and see. Your impact is beyond Unzen. Think of all the good things that you’re responsible for. 

KATIA

And be proud of them.

DAVID

Harry, I’m so glad to see you. You were just a postdoc but now, look at you, older than I ever was. 

HARRY

I’m older. Than you. Ever were. 

DAVID

And now you get to enjoy eternal youth as well. Maybe one day I’ll see you at St. Helens. 

Maurice. Katia. 

MAURICE

David. 

KATIA

Oh, David. 

HARRY pulls DAVID into a firm hug. Only seconds after, DAVID vanishes. The rocks now lie lifelessly by HARRY’s foot.  

CAROLYN has climbed to the summit of Mount Unzen. She overlooks the exact spot where Harry, Katia, Maurice, and forty others passed away. 

She stares at that spot, then screams into the void of the Unzen valley and of this dimension. 

CAROLYN

It’s okay—Harry—it has stopped—

It won’t hurt anyone else.

 

END. 

 

AFTERWORDS

I want to share the moment when Carolyn transfixed me throughly. Before our zoom meeting, I sent her an interview outline of a dozen questions, including “what sparked your love for volcano?” She replied with a correction that for her, it’s hate, not love. Carolyn describes her feelings for volcanoes as a sense of betrayal. Losing Harry was hard. Losing Harry to volcanoes, which Harry and herself and many other volcanologists devote their career and life to, was even harder. In her 2007 trip, she went all the way up to the summit, and she could see the spot where Harry passed away. She screamed to the open air “Harry it’s over! It won’t hurt anyone!” It must be cathartic. 

The title of this play came from “Fire in the earth, fire in the soul,” written in 1997 by John Calderazzo, a nonfiction writer dedicated to science communication especially around our environment. 

“There was nothing to do. Maurice and Katia would have known that. Perhaps, though, they had time to look at each other. Perhaps they managed to hold hands. Perhaps they saw a titanium boat coming for them from the secret heart of the world.”

Rescuers said the remains of the Kraffts were found closest to the crater’s rim of all the bodies recovered, maybe they did see a titanium boat coming to them and tried to grasp onto it. That boat couldn’t save anyone, unfortunately. This boat of mine couldn’t bring anyone back either, it can only sail in the fresh lava made of memories and love.