Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	26th April 1883
Colliery:	Longacres (Ironstone)
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1

No. 11 on the list occurred at Longacres Mine, where John Pennock was killed by a premature explosion of powder while engaged in putting the hay wadding on to the powder he had placed into the hole, which was 3 feet 6 inches deep ; it would appear that in drilling the hole deceased had met with a hard fossil "belemnite" which slightly turned the direction of the hole and left a small "conch" on, and while pushing the hay wad in with a copper rammer, the charge exploded killing him on the spot. It was intimated that lucifer matches were often found among the hay used by the miners for tamping, and I had the remainder of the hay brought out and carefully examined, when I found two matches that had not been ignited, but whether such a match had got into the hole among the hay and become ignited by the friction, or that a spark had been emitted by the rammer striking against the fossil, if difficult to say.

Source:

1883 Mines Inspectors Report (C 4078)

	Pennock, John, aged 43, Miner, explosion of powder while engaged putting the hay wad into a hole just charged with loose powder
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