Misenium was a Roman port near the northwest end of the Bay of Naples.
Pliny the Younger witnessed the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum from Misenium, which was on the other side of the Bay of Naples. He described the tremors in the days before the eruption (which he said were not alarming because tremors were frequent in the area) and the eruption. He also recounted that his uncle, Pliny the Elder, who was an admiral of the fleet stationed at Misenium crossed the bay with his ships to help with the evacuation and died during the operation.
Pliney the Elder, the commander of the fleet at Misenium, tried to launch a rescue operation. However only a few were able to make their escape as the sea was rough and the rescue ships had difficulty navigating. Pliny himself lost his life in the attempt both to save people and to gain scientific knowledge of the eruption.
Pliny the Younger was living in Misenum, a Roman town located across the Bay of Naples from Mount Vesuvius, when the eruption occurred in 79 AD. He observed the eruption from a safe distance and later wrote detailed accounts of the disaster.