Wingate Grange Colliery Disaster. Durham. 1906.
Extracts from a book that Hal Williams is writing.
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On the 14th. October 1906 an explosion led to the death of 26 miners. At the time of the explosion the colliery was ventilated by an exhausting Waddle Fan, 25 feet in diameter, that usually ran at 85 revolutions per minute. This was situated near the up-cast shaft and connected with it by an arched tunnel. At the end of the week when the men left the mine, it was usual to reduce the revolutions of the fan. This was done on Saturday, 13th. October, and the fan worked at reduced revolutions until an hour or so before the explosion on Sunday night, when the water gauge was raised.
The possibility that the reduction in the fan speed having a bearing on the explosion was considered but later rejected. It was pointed out that 3 years prior to the explosion a fan of much less power than the existing fan ventilated the mine. It had produced slightly more than 100,000 cubic feet of air per minute and was found to ventilate the mine well. The fan was only replaced by the more powerful Waddle fan, because the foundations of the former fan were insecure.
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The origin of the explosion was deemed to be in the main haulage way of the Low Main seam. The description by several witnesses; was that the place was "not particularly dusty," but admitted "some dust" was to be found on the roof, sides, and roadway. Evidence showed the dust came largely from the screening of coal from the Hutton and Harvey seams, near the top of the downcast shaft, where the air descending that shaft, carried it part the way in-bye to the main haulage roads. Dust had also been blown from the trucks of coal being drawn on the main haulage road against the air current, for a considerable period of time. Added to this was a quantity of dust blown from loaded tubs while being raised in the downcast shaft. All the evidence appeared to indicate that the main haulage road, or at least some part of it, was the dustiest part of the Low Main seam.
The dynamic effects of the explosion were chiefly felt in the Low Main seam, and to some small extent into the Main Coal seam. Four men Maddison, Bloomfield, Elliott and Dixon received injuries that probably caused their deaths from the force of the explosion itself. The deaths of all the other men were attributed to after-damp or chokedamp.
Evidence showed and expert witnesses agreed, that the explosion was of coal dust and air, neither caused nor aggravated by firedamp. Firedamp had been reported in the Harvey seam in small quantities some few days before the date of the explosion, but no firedamp had ever been found in the main haulage road of the Low Main seam for many years and on this main haulage road, certain naked lights were used, but only as far as caution boards, where a red lamp was hung during the time the ordinary shifts of hewers were in the pit. The main haulage road was one of the best ventilated parts of the mine and any accumulation of gas there, in dangerous or indeed any quantity was rejected.
There had been a small fall of roof in this main haulage road. At approximately 10.30 p.m. about an hour and ten minutes before the explosion, a man named Maddison was instructed by the master-shifter, Murton, to clear away this fall, and to plote (remove loose hanging stone), the fall area. This point was on the main haulage road to the north, near the place where his body was found. He was working alone. Elliott, a shifter, who was employed at the downcast shaft, had been instructed to bring a pony from the stable and take two empty tubs to Maddison to be filled with the fallen stone, but he had not done this when the explosion occurred.
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One theory on the cause of the explosion was that Maddison, one of the victims of the disaster, had, entirely without authority, fired a shot in the main haulage road. Close to the point where this small fall occurred there was on one of the sides a projecting piece of stone, about five feet in height from the roadway. This was supported by props, and was regarded as quite safe. It had existed there for at least twenty-five years.
This theory, advanced on behalf of the mine owners, was that Maddison, who was a licensed shot-firer, placed a charge of geloxite, a permitted explosive, on the top of this projecting piece of stone with the intention of it blasting off. Maddison had no drilling tools with him and no drill hole had been made; and he had no proper stemming material. The theory continued that the charge of geloxite was laid on the top of the stone, a fuse attached, and either fired in an open and uncovered state, or covered by a mixture of coal dust and roller grease made into a paste to confine the charge. It was claimed that the flame caused by this firing set up the explosion of the coal dust. Maddison's body had the greatest injury from burning and was probably the nearest person to the point of the explosion. Careful examination showed that some explosive had been fired in a crack or cavity above the projecting stone.
Other theories were advanced and considered but there was common ground that a flame started the explosion. Lights in this main haulage road were electric incandescent lights near the down-cast shaft, these lights were probably not in use as the under-manager had given orders that they were not to be turned on during the night, and when the master-shifter left the shaft they were not on. Also, all the expert witnesses agreed that the explosion travelled towards the electric lights, and consequently was not originated by them. Safety lamps of the examiners and workmen, and a naked light, which had been carried up this main haulage road shortly before the explosion, were carefully considered as a flame source. This naked light was an ordinary glass hand lamp. It was found after the explosion and produced at the inquest unharmed. The same may be said of all the other lamps, except that belonging to Maddison. Maddison's lamp, which was a Donald lamp in good condition according to the expert witnesses, would not have produced an explosion unless brought into contact with a considerable quantity of gas. The only means of ignition at the point of origin of the explosion was either the safety lamp of Maddison or the flame of the fuse or flame of the explosive he was found to have been using. The fact that he had by means of hot wire ignited the fuse and retired 21 yards out-bye are against the supposition that gas was present. And all the witnesses examined agreed that if the flame from his lamp had been the igniting element, the lamp itself would almost certainly have been completely destroyed.
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The downcast shaft was undamaged at the surface, except that some of the flat sheets were displaced; 10 panes of glass in windows facing the shaft in the Harvey seam winding engine house were broken and the glass lay on the floor of the house. One Harvey seam cage was a fathom or two below the flat sheets at the surface, the other a corresponding distance from the bottom. The Hutton seam cages were set by clear in the shaft. The casing surrounding the top of the upcast shaft was slightly damaged. Cages running to the Low Main seam, set by in the shaft, were not damaged. Doors in a short arched road, isolating the Guibal fan from the passage leading to the Waddle fan, were displaced; this was not discovered for some days, and until it was rectified the full ventilation was not obtained in the mine.
The fan was not damaged, but the engineman, who was in close attendance, raised the speed of the engine at about 10.00 p.m., he noticed a check in the speed of the fan engine at the moment of the explosion, and looking at the water-gauge found it reduced, he at once gave the engine more steam until the water.
The Harvey and Hutton seam enginemen were summoned to the pit. When they tried to move their cages they were unable to do so, but the cages in the upcast shaft were free and a descent was made by that shaft. When the Main Coal seam was reached, the rescue party were able to proceed in-bye and found the body of Dixon near the downcast shaft. They found the top of the drop staple wrecked. They were able to proceed in-bye to the stone drift to the Five Quarter seam and round the workings of that seam. Twenty-two miners were rescued from the Main Coal and Five Quarter seams, and the bodies of the 8 victims were sent to the surface. Before the Low Main seam was reached shouts from below that seam indicated the safety of the persons in the Hutton and Harvey seams. When the Low Main seam was reached about 1 a.m. on the 15th October it was evident from the disturbance about the shafts that this, the central seam, was the plane of the explosion.
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All the bodies of the victims were recovered, except that of Elliott, and rescue of the surviving miners were completed by 9 a.m. on Tuesday the 16th October.
The body of Elliott was only found after a long search, but it was surmised that he might have been blown into the downcast shaft, and his body was eventually found in the sump of that shaft on October 23rd.
In the stables in the Low Main seam 56 horses and ponies were killed, all appear to have sunk down quietly and died from inhaling afterdamp; except for two near the engine plane whose bodies indicated some struggling. The explosion had passed from the intake to the stables, blowing forward a metal tank and displacing a stopping, but it did no damage in the stables, only displacing a loose box door. Eight ponies were out of the stables in the Low Main seam at the time of the explosion. Two of them were killed, one on the Stable way engine plane and one near the junction of the 1st. East way with the Main road. Six, in the workings of the Stable way, survived. Two ponies which were out of the stables, they were between the downcast shaft and the top of the drop staple in the Main Coal seam, were killed by afterdamp in the Five Quarter seam, near the top of the stone drift.
Only four of the 26 victims were actually within or near the flame area; these were Dixon, Elliott, Bloomfield and Maddison. Dixon was close to the downcast shaft in the Main Coal seam, but had been outside the flame area; his body was not burned and he had been killed by force. J. McDougall was working with Dixon and escaped alive; he said there was a great rush of steam (owing to the fracture of the steam pipes in the shaft), and there was a quantity of dust in the air, he was scalded by the steam, but he saw no flame.
Elliott as mentioned previously had been blown into the sump of the downcast shaft and his body was so mutilated that the doctor could not state positively whether it was burned or not, as it had lain in water for 10 days and was decomposed.
Bloomfield, who was working with a pony and tub near the limit of the explosion in the Stable way, was killed by violence, the doctor stated his body was also singed. His pony was found alive but two of its legs were broken; it was reported it had not been burned.
Maddison's was the only clear case of burning.
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Clear evidence of the passage of flame, in the shape of deposits of coked coal dust, was abundant at the termination of the explosion to the north, but in the direction of the shafts it was described as meagre. A careful examination revealed a considerable deposit of coked coal dust sticking to the coal, about 3 feet from the floor, on the side furthest from the shaft of the short road connecting the main road and the bottom of the drop staple, and of a lesser deposit on the in-bye side of a square rapper wire support, on the left side of the Stable way engine plane, about 20 yards on the out-bye side of the curve to the South.
From the indications of the direction of force the conclusion was that the explosion had come out-bye to the shafts from some point on the main road to the north, beyond its junction with the Stable way. It then passed to the shafts and into the Stable way. Indications of the passage of force out-bye on the main road were observed both between the shafts and the Stable way junction and in-bye of the junction, then extending about 90 yards there was a distinct length of road on which, although there were things to disturb, no disturbance had taken place; beyond the undisturbed length evidences of a renewal of disturbance were apparent, and indications that the explosion had passed in-bye and a short distance up the 1st East way. The explosion did not continue in-bye far until all evidence of force ceased. Near this area where the force ceased going in-bye most coked coal dust was observed, and this coked dust was nearly all deposited on the inbye side of the props and crowns. This curious phenomenon led some observers to come to an erroneous conclusion as to the direction in which the explosion had travelled. At first it appears likely that the crusts of coke would be deposited on the surfaces of timber facing the direction of the explosion. But it has been proved, with other explosions, that as a rule the deposits of coked dust are on the opposite side of timber to that facing the direction an explosion travels.
As previously mentioned the deaths of all the victims of the explosion, except Dixon, Elliott, Bloomfield and Maddison, were due to after-damp as they were attempting to reach the shafts by the intake airways. Their lamps were found near where they were overcome, in one or two cases the lamps were still burning. If the victims, working at the faces in the Low Main seam had stayed there until the rescue team arrived they may have survived. Understandably they tried get to the shafts and as the air was impure they were overcome and died.
Edward Murton, a master-shifter, was the official in charge of the Low Main seam, he was in the Stable way district at the time of the explosion when he felt a movement of the air which he thought it was a heavy fall of stone somewhere but did not attaché much importance to it. Murton later left the district at 1.20 a.m., and travelled outbye where he found evidence of disturbance, after-damp, and the body of Bloomfield. He decided to go back to warn the men he had recently left. This unselfish action almost certainly saved his life; if he had carried on travelling outbye he would have been overcome by after-damp as happened to H. Pace, a man who he brought out with him.
This explosion was described at the time as preventable, and would not have occurred if the officials and servants of the mine had been more fully alive to the dangers of explosion from coal dust.
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Names of those killed and their injuries.
Ainsley, James. 20 years of age, occupation Pumper. Choke damp. Carbonic acid.
Bainbridge, Thomas. 66 years of age, occupation Examiner. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
Bayliss, George. 58 years of age, occupation Examiner. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
Bentley, Lord. 66 years of age, occupation Shifter. After damp. Carbonic oxide.(plus marked).
Bloomfield, George. 41years of age, occupation Shifter. Injuries: Fractured skull, singed and other injuries.
Dixon, John Guy. 57 years of age, occupation Shifter. Fractured skull.
Dunlavey, Patrick. 62 years of age, occupation Mason's labourer. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
Elliott, Thomas Henry. 46 years of age, occupation Shifter. Fractured skull and other injuries.
Farnworth, Nathaniel. 59 years of age, occupation Shifter. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
Gilchrist, Peter. 63 years of age, occupation Shifter. Choke damp. Carbonic acid.
Grafton, Joseph. 67 years of age, occupation Shifter. Choke damp.Carbonic acid.
Hardy, Edward. 63 years of age, occupation Shifter. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
Harris, Alfred George. 50 years of age, occupation Shifter. Choke damp. Carbonic acid.
Hockaday, William. 51 years of age, occupation Sinker. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
James, Isaac. 42 years of age, occupation Colliery mason. After damp. Carbonic oxide.(plus marked).
Kay, Thomas. 55 years of age, occupation Shifter. Choke damp. Carbonic acid.
Maddison, John Thomas. 24 years of age, occupation Stoneman. Burns by flame. Broken neck, Pieces of coal in face.
Mason, James. 49 years of age, occupation Stoneman. Choke damp (and hot air). Carbonic acid.
Metcalfe, Thomas. 64 years of age, occupation Shifter. After damp. Carbonic oxide.(plus marked).
Morrison, James. 45 years of age, occupation Shifter. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
Pace, Henry. 44 years of age, occupation Stoneman. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
Smith, George. 47years of age, occupation Chargeman. Choke damp. Carbonic acid.
Stockdale, Charles. 35 years of age, occupation Sinker. After damp. Carbonic oxide.
Studham, William. 54 years of age, occupation Shifter. Choke damp. Carbonic acid.
On the 24th November George Mason, 60 years of age, a shifter, who was in the Harvey seam at the time of the explosion, died at his home. Death was diagnosed as due to bronchitis. Relatives were unhappy so they applied to the coroner. He held an inquest and after a post-mortem examination, the jury found that death was due to "sub-acute pneumonia set up and caused by cold, wet, and exposure suffered in the Harvey seam of Wingate pit for some hours after the explosion on 14th day of October last."
On the 14 Feb 1907, James Pearce, 45 years of age, died from injuries received in the explosion.
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