Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	24th May 1893
Colliery:	Dunston
Cause:	Explosion of fire-damp
Lives Lost:	2

The most serious and only fatal explosion of fire-damp during the year occurred at the Dunston Colliery, near Gateshead, on the evening of the 24th of May, resulting in the loss of two lives and injuries to two other persons.

The owners are Messrs. John Bowes and Partners, Limited ; A. S. Palmer, Esq., is the head viewer, Mr. William Lee the certificated manager, and Mr. W. R. Handyside the under-manager ; and the workings are further supervised by the usual and a competent staff of under officials.

The seam in which the explosion occurred is the Brockwell Seam, and a plan, No. 1, of the portion of the workings affected, and an enlarged plan, No. 2, of the working places in the district in question, known as the South District, are appended hereto. No other part of the workings have been affected by the explosion, it is unnecessary to complicate matters by adding more to the plans than is requisite for the purpose of explaining the position of affairs on the night of, and the results of the accident.

At 5 p.m. on the evening of the 24th May four men, Robert Lowens, foreman stoneman; Joseph Atkinson, stoneman ; George Fulthorpe and Thomas Courtney, putters, went down the pit for the purpose of blowing canch in the workings of the South District, compressed gunpowder being the explosive used. Lowens was engaged on the bottom canches in the working places, Atkinson at a top canch half way up the winning headways at 3, plan No. 2, whilst Courtney was putting the dirt from Atkinson to the stow bord at 4, plan No. 2, where Fulthorpe was engaged at the time of the explosion. The figures in black show the actual position of the four men, who were the only persons employed in the district that night, just before the accident l; and the figures in red mark the position where the bodies of the two deceased were afterwards found. The names on the body of the plan are those of the hewers who worked in the respective places during the day, and are inserted for the purpose of identifying the different working places.

It will be seen from the arrows that the ventilation passed direct from the shaft along the mean wagon way to the bottom of the winning headways, thence to the point where Atkinson was working, where it split, a small portion, 6,000 cubic feet per minute, passing to the right to keep some old workings clear, whilst the larger quantity, 14,000 cubic feet per minute, was carried round the working places, six in number, in the district, and then proceeded direct to the upcast shaft. The measurement was made on the 16th May, but the evidence given at the inquest tended to show that the ventilation was in its normal state on the day of the accident, and that no gas was present in the district.

From the evidence of Atkinson it appears that they had proceeded to their work as usual, everything going on well till 10 p.m., when there was a report of a shot, followed by a rush and sparks down the headways, knocking Fulthorpe and himself down. On recovering their feet both men hastened down the road together towards the shaft, but unfortunately Fulthorpe took the wrong turning, and passing through the cloth stoppings was suffocated by the afterdamp ay the point marked 2 in red. Lowes managed to get as far down the headways as the point number 1 in red on the plan, when he also fell a victim to the afterdamp ; but Conway, who was more severely burnt than the others, was successful in getting to the wagon way, and so out to the shaft.

It will be desirable, perhaps, to give hear the short report of the results of the several inspections I made after the explosion, and which I submitted to the jury at the inquest, which was held by Mr. John Graham, Coroner for the Northern Division of Durham, at the colliery office, on the 5th July 1893. It was as follows :—

"Owing to my absence from Newcastle being engaged in the Lancashire portion of the district, I was unable to visit the scene of the accident until the evening of the following day (Friday), 25th May, when accompanied by Mr. G. F. Bell, inspector assisting ; Mr. Lee, manager ; Mr. Handyside, under manager, and other officials, I made a close examination of the district in which the explosion had occurred. Locked safety lamps are used in this seam, which, however, is not of a very fiery description, gas being very rarely seen. Nor can it be called dusty, for, without the exception of a little dust on the packing at the roadsides near the face, it is conspicuous by its absence. Out of the coal itself water in constantly oozing, thus preventing the formation of coal dust.

"On leaving the shaft bottom the first indications of force were found at the crossing A, plan No. 1, where three planks had been displaced. This was at a point 172 yards from the shaft and about 700 yards from the face of the winning headways.

"At the way ends E, plan No. 1, 200 yards further in-bye, some notice papers had been blown from the board, but they were not charred at all.

"At the points marked F F, plan No. 1, two brick stoppings had been blown away from the wagon way, and, still further on a door had been damaged.

"Up to this point no signs of fire were apparent, nor were any seen until the winning headways was reached, when it was found that the coal size immediately facing the headways had been on fore. From this point inwards the presence of flame was shown by the coked dust on the inner side of the timbers, the quantity increasing by degrees up to Brown’s bord, and beyond this point quickly decreasing. No coking was visible at the face of the headways and bords, but there were evident signs of heat.

"On an examination of the district it was seen that the shots had been fired in Brown’s bord and Tiplady’s wall, both of which had been ridded, in the top canch, and Thompson’s wall, which had not been ridden, and, apparently the last one, in Holmes’ bord. No shot, it is important to note, had been fired in Whiteford’s bord. All the lamps, with the exception of Lowens’, were said to have been locked when found, and Lowens’, although unlocked, had the top screwed on. From the position of his lamp and the general appearance of the place, it was evident that he had just fired the shot in Holmes’ bord. This shot had, in my opinion, primarily been the cause of the accident ; for although it had not only blown to the back of the hole but beyond it, it had not done its work in the usual manner ; and an after examination showed that under the hole there was a slippery parting, and that the ground itself was also intersected by similar partings. It was found also that the hole had not been drilled in a proper direction, for, whereas the previous hole could be distinctly traced, nothing could be seen of that fired on the night on the accident. The result would be that when the shot was fired the flame would escape through these partings before the powder had time to do its work. This is not however, sufficient to account for the force sufficient to injure a crossing 700 yards away, and it is necessary to look for some other agent to cause the damage. That agent, in my opinion, was fire-damp, for there was no mistaking the smell of after-damp, even 20 hours after the accident ; but the question naturally arises, where did it come from? That fire-damp might be present is evident from the fact that there was an explosive mixture in Whiteford’s bord at the time of my inspection, and although it may be urged that the ventilation was disarranged owing to the stoppings having been blown away (as was the case), still it shows that the same thing might occur in consequence of a derangement of the brattice ; and considering that several shots, of which two were top canch shots, had been previously fired, it is not improbable that this has been the cause of the accumulation. From the appearance of the winning headways and Whiteford’s bord I am inclined to think that there has been fire-damp in both these places, but only to a slight extent in the former, and this gas, ignited by the flame from the shot, communicated with the gas in Whiteford’s place, so causing the explosion.

"A second examination on the following day confirmed me in the view I have just expressed, and I was further convinced that the explosion could not have originated at any other point, for what force there was all radiated from this point. An inspection of the return airway leading to the stow-bord showed that the flame or heated air had passed along to the point where Courtney was working, and here an empty tub had been blown for a distance of two or three yards.

"This, with the exception of the stoppings, crossing, and the derangement of the brattice doors here and these, was the only sign of violence.

"After the necessary repairs were executed for putting the district in its normal conditions, I made a further inspection, and found the ventilation in a satisfactory condition and the workings free from gas ; an I can only account for its presence on the night of the accident on the assumption that the brattice had been displaced, whether by a shot or otherwise I cannot say.

"The deceased Lowens, who fired the shot, held a certificate authorising him to fire shots but I would take this opportunity of referring to the fact that Atkinson, who also held a certificate, was a contractor, and it is doubtful whether he was a competent person within the meaning of the Act, which provides that ‘In any place where safety lamps are used, or which is dry and dusty, the shots shall be fired by a competent person appointed by the owner, agent or manager.’

"I am of opinion that such contractors are not competent persons within the meaning of the Act, though I do not for a moment suggest that any manager would appoint a man who is incompetent to fire a shot ; but it is evident that if a contractor for blowing stone can hold a certificate for shot firing, there is nothing to prevent a contractor for getting coal, a hewer, from being granted the same privilege, and I do not suppose that anyone would content that under the general rule referred to it was the intention of the Legislature to allow hewers to fire their own shots.

"I am aware that the same system is in force at other collieries, and it has been my endeavour hitherto to get it altered, and I trust that now it has come into such prominence that it will be the means of inducing those owners and managers who have hitherto allowed contractors to fire shots to adopt what was, without doubt, the intention of the Legislature when the Coal Mines Regulation Act was passed.

"This explosion also should teach one other lesson, and that is the great danger attending the use of gunpowder, whether in an apparently safe mine or otherwise, and it distinctly points to the desirability of abolishing the use of powders and substituting one of he high explosives, as has been advocated on so many occasions by those who have had to investigate similar accidents.

"I do not wish it to be inferred, however, that the higher explosives should be used in the absence of proper inspection, which, there is so much reason the believe, has been omitted on this occasion, and possibly, therefore, in the vicinity of fire-damp, but as an extra precaution, the want of which has resulted disastrously on so many occasions."

The jury returned the following verdict :—

"That the deceased died from accidental suffocation after a gunpowder shot has been fired, but whether suffocation was caused by ignition and explosion of gas or coal dust or both no sufficient evidence to the jury appears."

It will be seen from the verdict that there was some conflict of opinion as to the part coal dust took in this accident, and from the evidence of Atkinson, who, at the time of the explosion was only about 40 yards from the shot, it was a very fair assumption for the jury to arrive at that the dust, if not the sole cause, was at any rate instrumental in intensifying and developing the force of the explosion. Atkinson stated that he saw no flame, but only a few sparks passing him ; but it should be borne in mine that at the time, he was standing up with his back towards the direction from which the blast came, that his head was above the level of the canch, and that between the two points there were two canvas doors across the roadway. He also had two lighted lamps close by, and it is quite possible, therefore, that although he might see sparks, the flame, which probably would not extend to any great distance form the face, might escape his notice. That there had been flame in Holmes’ and Whiteford’s places there could be no doubt, nor could there be any dispute as to the fact that there had been an ignition to a greater or less extent of coal dust, but, fortunately for the two men who escaped, neither fire-damp nor dust was present in any great quantity. At the point 4, plan No. 2, neither flame nor sparks were seen by Courtney, who was more severely burned than any of the others ; and it is worthy of notice that although the return air road leading to the place where he was working was the driest and dustiest in the district, the signs of fire and coking of dust were less apparent than elsewhere. It is clear, therefore, that the explosion did not extend out-over along the return, and so cause the damage to the crossing at A, plan 1, and as in the other direction its force was apparently expended at or about the bottom of the winning headways, and the road from that point out to the shaft was entirely free from dust, it is difficult to account for the injury done to the crossing.

According to the medical evidence, neither of the deceased men were killed by the force pf the explosion, but in both cases their deaths were due to asphyxia ; not were they very much burnt, as would have been the case had there been any considerable amount of dust ignited.

Whether the accident was due to gas alone, to dust alone, or to gas and coal dust combined, ignited by the flame from the shot, it conclusively shows, as I have stated before, the danger that will always attend blasting when gunpowder is used.

Source:

1893 Mines Inspectors Report (C 7339)

	Fulthorpe, George, aged 19, Putter, Explosion of fire-damp [Inspection made & inquest attended]
	Lowens, Robert, aged 32, Shifter, Explosion of fire-damp [Inspection made & inquest attended]
	All names found

26 May 1893

Fatal Colliery Accident (The Times)

 

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