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SIR,

I beg to report that in accordance with your directions I have held a formal Inquiry under Section 83 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911, into the causes and circumstances of the explosion which occurred on 3rd June, 1941, at the William Pit, Whitehaven, Cumberland, causing the deaths of 12 persons and injuries to 11 others.

Two of the features of the explosion were unusual. In the first place it was not associated with the normal operations of coal production, for, although it affected persons engaged in such operations in another seam, it, in fact, occurred in connexion with a large sealed off area of workings in a seam which had been abandoned since 1928, and in which active fire due to spontaneous combustion had been known to exist for at least 15 months. Owing to the almost complete absence of firedamp from the atmosphere where work in connexion with checking the fires had to be done, no suspicion of the possibility of an explosion arose. In the second place, there is little doubt that the explosion was not one of firedamp, but of inflammable gas produced by the application of water to a considerable mass of glowing coal, water having been used for some time to assist the other measures of control which had been in progress for several years.

The Inquiry was held in the Congregational Church Schoolroom, Whitehaven, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 29th to 31st July, inclusive.

Under the terms of your Warrant of Appointment dated 30th June, 1941, Mr. J. Ivon Graham, M.A., M.Sc., F.I.C., sat with me throughout the Inquiry as Scientific Assessor.

The appearances were as follows :-

Mr. R. Yates, H.M. Divisional Inspector of Mines Mr. P. G. Dominy, H.M. Senior Inspector of Mines Mr. Win. Gray, H.M. Junior Inspector of Mines	For the Mines Department.
Mr. J. Arthur Thompson, Secretary of the Cumberland Coal Owners' Association Mr. J. Williamson, Agent Mr. G. Farquhar, Manager Professor Granville Poole, Director	For the Cumberland Coal Company (Whitehaven), Ltd.
Mr. Wm. E. Jones Mr. A. E. Moore	For the Mineworkers' Federation of Great Britain.
Mr. T. Cape Mr. T. Stephenson Mr. J. Martin	For the Cumberland Miners' Association.
Mr. W. T. Miller Mr. A. McAlpine	For the General Federation of Colliery Deputies.
Mr. H. Skerry Mr. W. F. Lawson	For the Cumberland Colliery Officials' Association.
Mr. F. P. Mills	For the Institution of Mining Engineers, and the National Association of Colliery Managers.

A list of the witnesses is given in Appendix I and a list of the persons killed and injured in Appendix II.