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THE EXPLOSION.

The explosion occurred at 3.45 p.m. or thereabouts on the 16th February, 1909.

On the arrival at the colliery of the district inspector and his assistants it was found that both the downcast and upcast shafts were damaged and that shaftmen were engaged in clearing a way for the cages, which fortunately were but little damaged.

Whilst the work of clearing the shafts was going on, steps were taken to contrive a temporary hospital in the joiners’ shop. Medical stores, oxygen, and other materials likely to be needed were brought to this temporary hospital. Draeger and other rescue apparatus was on the spot under the control of Mr. Simonds, of Messrs. Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth & Co.’s Elswick Works, who arrived on the scene by motor-car within two and a half hours of the explosion, and before anyone had been able to get into the mine, having brought with him men trained in the use of the apparatus. A telephone call was received at the Elswick Works at 5.27 p.m., Mr. Simonds leaving at 5.40 and arriving at the colliery at 6.15 p.m. No opportunity offered itself in which the use of the rescue apparatus could have been of any assistance. Unfortunately the excellent arrangements made in the joiners’ shop were only required for three men. These three men, one from the Busty Seam and two from the Towneley Seam, were brought up the downcast shaft by the shaftmen on the completion of the necessary temporary repairs in that shaft.

The downcast shaft being then available – it was about 2 a.m. – rescue parties at once went down into the Towneley and Busty Seams. From the Tilley Seam 26 men, who had been unaffected by the explosion, due in all probability to the comparative absence of coal dust in the drift leading from the Busty to the Tilley Seam, to the wetness of the landing in the Tilley Seam, and to the fact that the men did not manage to reach either shaft but remained where they were, were brought out; and from the Towneley Seam. Patrick Joyce, John Smith, Patrick Cogan, and Robert Leadbitter. The last-named man after a hard struggle for life for 30 hours, during which he was given unremitting attention by doctors and nurses in the temporary hospital, succumbed to the ill effects of the foul air he had inhaled. Mathew Elliott, the onsetter was rescued from the Busty Seam. With these exceptions no other man or boy was brought out of the mine alive. The work of exploration went on unceasingly, and by the 22nd February 165 bodies had been recovered and brought to the surface. Two men were still missing and search for them was carried on until 5th March, when all hope of recovering them was given up. It was known where they were likely to be, but although every effort was made to find them, the search was unavailing, and owing to the increasing danger to which the exploring parties were exposing themselves, it was ultimately abandoned.

We have previously stated that both shafts were damaged by the explosion. This damage extended to the surface in the case of the downcast shaft, the casing erected from the ground level to the underside of the heapstead being blown down on three sides, and the roof of the heapstead was also damaged. At the upcast shaft on the surface there was little or no damage; the fan was uninjured and continued to run. The usual water gauge of 1.5 inches fell to 1.3 inches.

Two separate indications that an explosion had occurred, with an interval of about 50 seconds between them, were observed on the surface. The first was in the shape of a cloud of smoke or dust; the second is best described in the words of an eye witness, viz., the colliery engineer, Ralph Stephenson, who said : – "I stood on the lip or edge of the pit (downcast) and looked at the ropes, then fairly steady, and then down the shaft. I heard a roar and saw a red flame right down the shaft. As the roar increased I stepped quickly back and called to other men to keep clear. I then stumbled about four yards from the shaft and fell sideways and just at that moment I saw a large ball of fire issue from the mouth of the pit, followed by a thick black cloud. The cloud spread around about me whilst I was still on the ground. I was in darkness, still prostrate. When I was in the act of rising again the air in the shaft reversed and carried the remainder of the black cloud with it, and I was then in clear air."

In the Fan drift there were evidences that something was on fire underground. A watch was kept in this drift, but the evidences fortunately soon died away, and as was afterwards seen, there had not been any extensive ignition of material.

Five minutes or thereabouts prior to the explosion, the engineman in charge of the pump in the Busty seam near the downcast shaft telephoned, as was his custom, to the electric generator house that he was ready to start the pump and wished to do so. A reply was given to the effect that he could start the pump.

Shortly afterwards – about five minutes – two out of the three fuses on the switchboard in the generator house, in the circuit carrying electricity into the mine, "blew." First there was a loud "burring" noise indicating an overload on the generator arid then the "blowing" of two of the three fuses. Simultaneously smoke issued from the downcast shaft, and the doors at the "horse-hole" at the upcast were blown open but swung to again by themselves. Fifty seconds afterwards, a ball of flame issued from the downcast shaft followed by a dense black cloud. A re-action then took place and the whole of the dense black cloud was sucked into the downcast shaft again and disappeared down that shaft.

The account given by the witness Stephenson of this incident is valuable, constituting as it does one of the best pieces of evidence that we have come across as to the force and magnitude of what is known to miners as the "back lash" which immediately succeeds an explosion.

The upcast shaft on this occasion was little disturbed.