An account of the dreadful explosion in Wallsend Colliery, on the 18th June, 1835, to which is added a list of explosions, inundations, &c. which have occurred in the Coal Mines of Northumberland and Durham ... : y John Sykes.

  • Sykes, John, 1781 or 1782-1837.
Date:
[1835?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the dreadful explosion in Wallsend Colliery, on the 18th June, 1835, to which is added a list of explosions, inundations, &c. which have occurred in the Coal Mines of Northumberland and Durham ... : y John Sykes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    shafts. The two pillar divisions were working with Davy lamps; and the whole coal divisions with candles : but if any danger was apprehended in the latter, the Davy lamps were used there also. One of the divisions of pillars is in the vicinity of a division working whole coal: they are upwards of a hundred yards apart, and are effectually separated by a course of substantial air stoppings, by which the air courses are kept separate and independent. If one of the stoppages were removed, no danger would arise from the intermingling of the two currents of air, the atmospheric and the inflam- mable, inasmuch as the leakage or pressure of air would be into the foul workings; and the man in charge of the atmospheric current would soon miss his air. It is about three weeks since I was down the pit, when I found the system of ventilation in good order in all its details. It is a voluntary part of my duty to go down this pit, and I do so for my own satisfaction only. The daily details of the ventilation and pit-work are com- mitted to Mr. John Atkinson, with his overmen, deputy overmen, wastemen, and other assistants whom he finds necessary for his purpose; and I believe I can say that every man in charge of this colliery has been promoted from merit alone. The viewers go down frequently both by day and night. I was down the pit after the accident on Friday morning, to see what was best to be done to recover the bodies. I went down the village or C. pit. The first body I came to was that of the deputy-overman : he was lying as far in as could be reached with safety. He had not been killed at once, and had got a small distance from his post, which he had evidently been at when the explo- sion took place. I took his cap off, and not a hair of his head was singed. He had been creeping, and must have died of the after-damp, from suffocation, the explosion having deranged the ventilation. The pit was not then further accessible. As far as I have been able to explore there are no indications to show where the explosion origi- nated ; but at present we have every reason to think that it did not take place in any of the workings. Where I found the overman, who was unburnt, a lad was lying within four yards of him who was much burnt. Some, in fact, were burnt, and some not, though lying near each other. If the fire had originated there, they would undoubtedly all have been burnt. The reason of candles being used in working the whole coal is, that it was necessary to work the coal by blasting with gun-powder, which I consider a great safety to us, because it proves that the ventilation is good; it is a test of its pure state. Blasts of gunpowder at all times prove the efficiency of the ventilation. If it were not so, gunpowder would not be used. Up to this day, I thought the explosion must have occurred in the workings eastward of the G. pit shaft; but having got through the rubbish which obstructed the passage to this part of the mine, we find that no fire has been there ; and I have no doubt that if the explosion had not choked up the mouth of the shaft, all the men and boys in this part of the workings would have been saved. They appeared to have left their work with deliberation ; the boys had their Davys with them, and one man, who had taken time to collect five Davys, had fallen behind the boys, as if he had been in the act of driving them before him, until they met with the fatal obstruction above noticed, which cut them off from all communication with the atmospheric air.* After Mr. Buddie’s examination, the inquest was adjourned till next day, at 12 o’clock. * Lawson, a deputy-ovei'man, and eight boys, had been working in one of the danger- ous parts, situated about five hundred yards from the G. pit shaft; about one hundred aud sixty yards from this shaft they were all found dead together. In front of the body of Lawson were six of the boys all lying together; on each side of him was one of the youngest, and near the poor fellow’s body were the Davy lamps which the boys had