Description

The fatal accident occurred at about 2.30 p.m. on 29th March in the Top Busty Seam at South Medomsley Colliery, Durham. Inflammable gas was unknown in any of the seams being worked and except that the deputies' examinations were made with flame safety lamps the mine was worked with naked lights throughout.

The explosion was confined to one district only — the East Landing South Flat. The seam being worked was the Top Busty three feet thick with a sandstone roof and seggar floor. At the time of the accident there were five persons in the district, viz. David Gregory (deputy) Joseph Merrington, George Nicholson and Christopher Young (coal hewers) with Luke Newton (pony putter). Pillars formed 18 yards square by driving places four yards wide were being extracted by driving headways-splits through each pillar and working bordways-lifts, four yards wide, from the splits — see Figure 3.

The coal was friable and hand-worked with the aid of an occasional shot in the fast side. Bottom canches were blasted about I ft. 6 in. thick, all shots being charged with compressed gunpowder and fired by the hewers.

On 28th March the roof supports were withdrawn from a completed lift and the roof fell to a smooth bedding plane, 2 ft. 9 in. above the seam, over an area eight yards by six yards. At about 10 a.m. on the following day Christopher Young commenced a new lift which happened to be the last, off the same pillar. About 2.30 p.m. he was sticking his candle-holder into the top of the prop nearest the face on the goaf side when the flame of the candle ignited firedamp. Young threw himself to the ground for a moment or two and then, after covering his mouth and nose with his shirt, commenced to make his way outbye in the dark, his two candles having been extinguished. On the "going bord" he was knocked down by a blast of air but he recovered himself and continued outbye before collapsing finally near a body, apparently lifeless, which he thought from the build was that of George Nicholson.

The deputy, David Gregory, was at the face of the outbye headways when he heard a loud report and saw flame coming through the bord just outbye. He was knocked down, but hearing the putter, Luke Newton, shouting from the next headways inbye he tried to crawl through the bord. He was driven back by the heat and then tried to crawl outbye along the headways but soon collapsed and became unconscious. As will be told later, Young and Gregory were the only two persons who escaped with their lives. The putter, Newton, and two hewers, Nicholson and Merrington, were dead when recovered.

A rolleywayman, Alexander Stewart, who, with a landing lad, was on the landing, about 170 yards from the face by the most direct route, was knocked down by a blast which extinguished their lights. Stewart and the lad went outbye for some distance in the dark then lighted their lamps and continued to a telephone situated about 350 yards distant from the landing. The overman in charge, Thomas Bolam, happened to be at a telephone two miles away and on being informed of the occurrence he reached Stewart in half-an-hour after telephoning to the surface for the manager to be sent for.

On reaching the landing Bolam withdrew the workmen from a Bottom Busty District which was near the area affected by the explosion and when he returned to the landing found that the manager, Mr. Davidson, had arrived there. Mr. Davidson sent Stewart to the telephone to summon the rescue brigades and he then attempted, with Bolam, to enter the explosion area.

At the flat shown on Figure 3 they found a good deal of smoke and this became thicker further inbye. They found Nicholson and Merrington, both apparently dead, in the positions indicated on the plan, and then farther inbye, reached Gregory, who was alive but unconscious. They dragged Gregory outbye for some little distance but had to leave him as the manager had become badly affected by the fumes.

In the meantime Stewart had returned to the landing and he and Bolam made a further rescue attempt, taking a tram with them; on the way inbye they were overtaken by a deputy named Crossley. When the party reached Gregory they found Young there also, both of them unconscious. Gregory and Young were placed on the tram and brought outbye to the landing where they were transferred to a haulage set and sent outbye with Bolam accompanying them. By this time the rescue brigades had arrived and they recovered the bodies of the three deceased persons. The Elswick Brigade received the call at 3.52 p.m. and reached the colliery in 20 minutes after travelling about 11 miles. The district affected was 2,000 yards from the shaft, but it had been examined and the first body brought back to the landing in an hour from the time of arrival of the brigade at the colliery.

The explosion originated at the flame of Young's candle and travelled through the goaf to Nicholson's and Merrington's places, then through the middle and outbye headways to the main and parallel headways. Coal dust played little or no part in the explosion until the main headways was reached when, possibly raised by the gas explosion sweeping through the goaf, it was ignited in quantity sufficient to propagate flame to the flat, a total distance of about 300 yards, along the path travelled, from the point of origin. Except that some brattice sheets were blown down there was no evidence of force, due possibly to the relief afforded by the number of different paths available.

The roof cavity in the goaf to the left of Young's place must have been full of firedamp at the time of the explosion and was probably full when deputy Gregory examined the face of Young's working place half an hour before. Gregory did not examine for firedamp in this cavity as it was outside the limits of the working place and in his opinion it would have been definitely dangerous to do so. In this opinion he was supported by all the other witnesses.

The amount of ventilation provided was adequate but it seems just possible that, had an additional brattice sheet been provided at the point marked "A" on the plan, sufficient air would have pulled along the goaf edge to prevent the accumulation in the cavity of firedamp in explosive concentration.

Messrs. Davidson, Bolam, Stewart and Crossley were the recipients of certificates and awards from the Carnegie Hero Fund Trust.

As a result of the explosion safety lamps were introduced throughout all the three seams worked.

Tombstone

Related Articles

Sources

• 1934 Mines Inspectors Report
• Headstone(s) in East Castle Cemetery
• Tombstone photograph (T-01834-02-0002) © Kev Duncan

Researchers

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