Description

In the explosion of fire-damp in the Victoria and Diamond pits at the Bardsley Colliery, belonging to the Bardsley Colliery Company, on the 2nd of February, when 53 persons were killed, the cause was evidently insufficient ventilation, owing to the airways being too small. I had previously cautioned and given written notice on the precise points in which the explosion originated, but (as I have deplored at the inquest at the Heys explosion, as given in my last year's report, and frequently at other times,) there was no viewer, and therefore no reasonable guarantee against an explosion. In September 1856, I received information that the colliery was in a dangerous state, and on visiting it I found the workings were stopped in consequence. I then cautioned the underlooker, Mr. William Hibbert, that the 1st general rule required that no working be carried on where the air is foul, and that in my opinion the intended furnace and the boiler fires of a proposed steam engine should be both fed with fresh air, and the return air brought into the pit out of the reach of all fire and flame, in which he concurred. On a subsequent occasion I recommended that the safety lamps should be locked; and afterwards, on the 4th of August 1857, having again received information that the colliery was in a dangerous state, which I found to be so upon inspection, I again cautioned the underlooker, and also his brother James, his assistant, and next day I gave notice to the owners in writing, that — "1st. Both the upper and lower mines are giving out fire-damp rapidly, and it is visible in the return air, especially of the lower mine. I conclude that there is too much work going on for the quantity of air. The quantity of air, as I measured it, was 14,800 cubic feet per minute for both seams, 6,800 of which was in the lower mine, leaving 8,000 for the upper mine. 2nd. The safety lamps should be locked ; and one lamp which I examined was so much scooped out to catch oil escaping, that no base was left for the bottom of the gauze ring to rest upon, and when the lamp was closed the gauze could be easily moved up and down. 3rd. Double sets of air-doors are wanted at three important points (see special rule 36). 4th. The ventilation should not depend upon gobbing, except for a short bratticing. 5th." (As to fencing the mouthings). A few weeks after this, on the 30th of October, I was again at the colliery, after the new furnace was lighted, and saw that a steam blast had been put into the upcast shaft, and ascertained that the ventilation was increased. Between this time and the occurrence of the explosion on the 2nd of February, James Hibbert became the underlooker, on his brother William taking the charge of some other collieries belonging to the same firm, and it appears that, notwithstanding the cautions which I had given, the air in the mines for some time before the explosion was occasionally so foul that it fired in the safety lamps in the return air, and men had to retreat from certain places in consequence, the airways at places being either so small or having so much rubbish in them that it was impossible there could be sufficient ventilation, and the safety lamps were left unlocked until the explosion. The explosion was a most extensive one in both seams (see the accompanying sketch), and left no doubt that, irrespective of any larger quantity of gas than usual that might possibly have been given off in one of the mines, the return air in both mines must have been foul. Of the 53 persons killed, 45 were more or less burned, and in one of the levels near the upcast shaft, the coal, timbers, trams, &c. were set extensively on fire, and would, but for the effectual measures by which it was subdued, doubtless have required the pits to be closed before the bodies could be recovered, thereby greatly adding to the horrors of the catastrophe. The two seams of coal are called the Two-feet and Peacock, or the Upper and Lower Bent Mines. They lie about seven yards apart, the upper one being from 18 to 27 inches, and the lower one about 28 inches thick. They are both fiery seams, and the beds both above and below give off fire-damp. The depth of the pits, to where they are being worked, is about 470 yards. The expense attendant upon working such thin seams at so great a depth is a strong inducement to get a large quantity of coal to cover the general charges, and seems to have led the managers to have more places of work going on than there was air to ventilate, and which ought to have been remedied either by larger airways or delaying some of the openings until the mines became somewhat drained of fire-damp. The particular point where the foul air was lighted could only be conjectured. It might be either at a shot which was apparently being fired, an open or a defective safety lamp, an open light allowed at the bottom of the upcast shaft or at the furnace, from both of which the return air was separated and sent into the dumb drift by air-doors only ; but with ventilation so deficient, the lighting is a secondary point, and usually only a question of time. The managing partner, a gentleman conversant with colliery management, but who latterly has seldom gone down pits, may fairly be supposed to have been unaware of the full extent of the danger, his son and a surveyor, with whom he was a pupil, having, shortly before five o'clock, finished their day's work and come out of the pit a few minutes before the explosion, after being down all day surveying, as they had also on the previous Thursday and Friday. The underlooker, James Hibbert, with his brother William, his predecessor, who had come to assist, and the two firemen, one of whom was killed, were also with them sharing the risk. The loss to the owners, consequent upon the explosion, may be estimated at about £3,000, without including anything for the bad name which such an explosion attaches to a colliery. Under such circumstances, and the heavy responsibilities attaching, it did not seem desirable to proceed for the small penalty of £5 for a breach of the 1st general rule.

In December 1851, when the black mine coal, which lies 62 yards above the two-feet, was being worked by Mr. Jonah Harrop in these pits, one of the most sweeping explosions that I have investigated happened in the Diamond pit, and but from its being at night when only four persons, all of whom were killed, were down, and the air reversing and drawing down the Victoria pit, the upcast, where several were at work, the fatality would have been similar to the present one.

Related Articles

Further Reading

• Lancashire Mining Disasters, 1835 - 1910 by Jack Nadin, Published by Wharncliffe Books, 2006, ISBN 1-903425-95-5

Sources

• 1858 Mines Inspectors Report, North and East Lancashire District, by Joseph Dickinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 34, Accident Number: 5
• 1858 Mines Inspectors Report, North and East Lancashire District, by Joseph Dickinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 38

Researchers

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