Felling mine disasters

The drawing is a copy of a published plan of the colliery at the time of the 1812 explosion

Felling is an area in the English county of Tyne and Wear. Mining of the upper seams had continued throughout the 18th century. Following borings starting in 1758, the main pit was opened in 1779. The first seam to be worked was the High Main which ceased production in 1811. Shortly before the High Main was exhausted, the pit was deepened to reach the Low Main which came into production in May 1811, just a year before the disaster. The Low Main lies 94 fathoms (564 ft; 172 m) below the surface and is 3 feet (0.91 m) thick. Subsequently two other seams, the Bensham (or Maudlin) and the Hutton were won.[1]

To ensure adequate ventilation two shafts were dug, Johnathan Pit and Will Pit. John Pit was the main access shaft and was the down-cast shaft where fresh air was drawn into the pit. A steam engine was provided for winding gear, and in 1812 there was a standby horse-whim for when the steam engine was out of use.[lower-alpha 2][2] William Pit was the up-cast or furnace pit and had a fire burning at its base. The rising hot air drew air though the mine from the down-cast pit. Above each of the two pits were pulleys, those over John Pit were 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter. The pulleys for the horse-whim were mounted on a crane and kept out of the way, being swung over the pit mouth when required. This arrangement proved fortuitous in the aftermath of the disaster.[2]

From the base of the pits a number of headings were first driven. Between the headings were driven stentings. An excavated area was called a board, broken up by walls. To ensure the air circulated throughout the mine some boards were blocked off with stoppings either of brick or timber. Openings in some of the stoppings allowed the movement of men and materials. When not being used the openings were closed by traps.[2]

In an era before the invention of the safety lamp, the only practical source of light was a candle. Where explosive gas was suspected, a Spedding mill was used.[3] A steel cylinder was revolved at high speed against a flint and the resulting shower of sparks gave some light. Although mills were safer than candles, the Wallsend colliery explosion of 1785 had shown that they could cause explosions.[4]

At 11:30 on Monday, 25 May 1812 the first explosion occurred. For half a mile around the earth shook and the noise was heard up to four miles away.[5] Large clouds of dust and small coals were thrown up from both William Pit and John Pit.[5] As well as the small particles, the coal baskets and pieces of wood were blown out of the pits and landed nearby. The dust fell like a shower for up to a mile and a half downwind.[5] The pit-heads or shaft-frames carrying the pulleys at both pits were blown off, set on fire and the pulleys broken.[5] At William Pit the up-cast fed to a horizontal flue on the surface which led to a stack. Coal dust was distributed three inches thick within this flue which then burnt to a "light cinder".[5]

The pulleys for the horse-whim at John Pit were mounted in a crane kept swung away from the shaft. As a result they were undamaged and could be swung over the shaft. Men on the surface applied themselves in place of the horses and brought 56 survivors and 14 corpses out of the colliery. Three of the survivors subsequently died. 87 men and boys were left below ground.[5]

45 minutes after the initial explosion, at 12:15, a rescue team descended the shaft.[3][lower-alpha 3] Because of the firedamp they used Spedding mills to light their way.[3] It was noted that the sparks fell "like dark drops of blood" due to the foul air.[3] Having attempted two directions and being forced back by difficulty breathing they retreated to the pit bottom. The party ascended, but while two were still below and two were in the shaft a second explosion occurred.[6] Haswell and H. Anderson were the two left below and they hung onto a pit prop whilst the blast lifted them and turned them.[6]

The rescue team all agreed that there was no possibility of the men left below ground being alive.[6] Two explosions, blackdamp (locally called choak-damp [sic]), fire and the lethal afterdamp made any rescue attempt impossible. The suggestion was made that the pit be stopped up to extinguish the fire. However, local recollections of three men who had survived for 40 days in a pit near Byker led to shouts of "murder" and obstruction.[6]

Aftermath

Main article: Safety lamp

A Davy lamp, an early example of a safety lamp

The tragedy inspired Hodgson to raise public concern about the hazards of mining. Public interest was fed by a short (16-page) pamphlet written by him and published prior to the second disaster in late 1813. Hodgson wrote for an interested public, not for practical miners, and as such explains mining terms and procedures. His description and analysis of the two explosions was historically significant as one of the first to attempt a scientific analysis of such events.

On 1 October 1812 the Sunderland Society was set up consisting of clergymen, doctors, owners and mine managers.[9] One of the doctors was William Reid Clanny who had already produced a first, impractical, safety lamp. Also present was George Stephenson who at that time was the enginewright for the collieries at Killingworth. The society aimed for greater publicity for accidents and their causes, the scientific study of ventilation, and the development of safety lamps.

Stephenson designed a safety lamp, known as the Geordie lamp, with air fed through narrow tubes, down which a flame could not move. It also led Sir Humphry Davy to devise another safety lamp, the Davy lamp, in which the flame was surrounded by iron gauze. The gauze had to have small spaces so that a flame could not pass through, but could admit methane, which then burned harmlessly inside the lamp. The height of the luminous cone above the flame gave a measure of the methane concentration in the atmosphere.

On 24 December 1813 at 01:30 the colliery again exploded, this time with the loss of 9 men and 13 boys along with 12 horses.[12] All the dead were in the headways by William Pit (the upcast pit). Those in the boards away from William Pit were saved. The Newcastle Courant reported the supposition that "the hydrogen [sic] took fire at the crane lamp, in the south headways".[lower-alpha 5][13] Thomson also reports this but warns against too early an assumption, mentioning other possibilities such as the failure of a stopping or furnace mismanagement.[14]

The southern boards were crossed by several fissures (dykes) from which periodic discharges of gas came through apertures called blowers. The blowers could make "the coals on the floor dance round their orifices, like gravel in a strong spring".[13] The discharges were dealt with by the strong current of air, strong enough to extinguish candles.[13]

None of the mine was found to be damaged by fire so after retrieval of the bodies and inspection of the mine it was reopened. On 30 December workmen found fire in part of the waste and as a result the mouths of the shafts were stopped up for a while.[13]

On Tuesday 22 June 1847, shortly after 21:00, another explosion occurred at the colliery.[15] Six miners were killed, four outright and two by their injuries over the following two days. The surgeon employed by the mine owners tried, unsuccessfully, to treat the injured. Two of the dead were killed immediately by a fall of rock from the roof, the other two by afterdamp.[16] As well as the human cost, eighteen horses were killed either by the explosion or by the afterdamp.

One of the survivors, Peter Gibbon, saw from his safety lamp that the air quality had changed. He commented to the man he was working with, George Chapman, "Do ye mind what a current of air there was!".[lower-alpha 6][15] Chapman had not noticed anything, but being in charge of the pit at the time he went off to investigate. Chapman was subsequently rescued, but died the following day. After an hour Gibbon tried to escape but broke his lamp and in the darkness was blocked by a roof fall; he was eventually rescued. Some of the men neither heard nor felt any shock despite significant damage being done, as commented upon in newspaper reports.[15]

The viewer, Thomas Foster, stated to the Newcastle Guardian that Davy lamps were employed throughout the colliery and that all the men were given written instructions in their use. The old areas of the colliery released a lot of foul air, but there was "not a better ventilated colliery on the Tyne". Foster reported that 60,000 cubic feet (1,700 m³) of air per minute was drawn down the shaft, a fact confirmed at the coroner's inquest.[15][16]

The colliery overman, John Greener, told the coroner that he had gone down the pit after the explosion and "found the separation stoppings blown down, and the stables on fire". He penetrated up to 600 yards (550 m) from the shaft before being overcome by foul air and forced to retreat.[15]

On Thursday evening, two days later a coroner's inquest was opened and adjourned until a full inspection could take place. The inquest reopened on the following Wednesday. Foster was the principal witness and he confirmed much that had earlier been reported; the pit was well ventilated and Davy lamps were in use.[16]

The cause of the explosion was found by Foster to be an underground engine used to haul coals to the pit base. The engineman had added fresh coal to the fire and closed the damper before going off shift at 16:00. The damper should have remained slightly open to allow burnt gas from the fire to escape up the chimney. It was supposed that the damper had been closed fully and partial combustion had occurred, effectively generating town gas ("acting as a retort"). The gas eventually escaped and the resultant explosion caused major damage to the boiler and flue.[16]

Four viewers from other pits all corroborated Foster's conclusions. The engineman, George Hope, said that he put on around 3½ pecks[lower-alpha 7] of small coals and "left the damper open about an inch and three-quarters I always leave my fire this way". The coroner's jury returned a verdict of "Accidental Death". The jury recommended that a pin was placed in the damper to stop it from closing to less than 4 inches (100 mm).[16]

A memorial to the 91 victims was placed in St Mary's Churchyard where most of the coffins were placed in a common grave.[lower-alpha 8][17] The monument has a square base with a square pyramid above. On each of the four faces is a brass plaque, listing the names and ages of the victims:

Pictures of the memorial on the Durham Mining Museum website:

• General view of the monument
• Brass number 1
• Brass number 2
• Brass number 3
• Brass number 4

• Mining accident

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