Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	18th July 1936
Colliery:	Cowpen, Bates Pit
Cause:	Explosion of firedamp
Lives Lost:	1

An explosion of firedamp occurred at Bates Colliery, Northumberland, on Saturday, the 18th July, causing the deaths of two persons and injuries to three others. The 4th North district of the Plessey seam, 3 ft. 3 in. thick, was one and a half miles from the shaft and comprised a double unit conveyor face as shown in Figure 3. The left face was 70 yards long and the right 110 yards. Safety lamps were used as a precautionary measure on the inbye side of caution boards but firedamp had not been reported for at least twelve months. All machinery was electrically driven and explosives were used in coal and in the blue shale top canches in mothergate and tailgate. At the time of the accident, however, shots were not being fired and the electric current was cut off.

The air current was split at the face of the mothergate, and in the left return airway there was a small electrically driven auxiliary fan. The manager had arranged to have the fan removed to a position farther outbye in the return airway with the object of boosting the ventilation on both faces. The colliery was idle for the week-end from the backshift of Friday the 17th July, and between 6.0 and 7.0 p.m. on this day the manager made an inspection of the left face and tailgate. The fan had been stopped about 5.0 p.m. for dismantling but he did not detect inflammable gas.

A fore overman, two deputies and two cuttermen descended at midnight to work in this district. The cuttermen finished work at 8.0 a.m. after undercutting the coal on the left face for 31 yards from their starting point which was, in turn, 15 yards from the left tailgate. Between 4.30 and 5.0 a.m., a fall of roof occurred 15 to 21 yards from the tailgate and near a disturbance in the seam. The two deputies, Grant and Potts, went to work at the tailgate end of the fall and, at 9.0 a.m., some fresh men were brought in to work at the other end. The new men, Waterson, a deputy, and Shield and Charlton, shifters, had a good deal of timbering to do on the face between the mothergate and the fall, and they had not reached the fall when the explosion occurred.

About noon, the deputies on the tailgate end of the fall were about to leave work. Grant stated that he left Potts sitting on the face in front of the tailgate and, taking with him an electric lamp, crept down the face to have a last look at the fall. Grant was within a few yards of the fall, and facing it, when the explosion occurred and he was burned on face and right arm. Returning to the tailgate, he found Potts sitting some five or six yards from the face and suffering from bums. Both men began to make their way outbye along the tailgate, Grant leading. Potts had not gone more than a few yards when he collapsed. Grant was unable to help him but managed to make his way to the mothergate where he found Waterson, Shield and Charlton, who were coming to see what was wrong. Grant told them that Potts was inbye ; then, although there was a telephone within 150 yards, walked to the shaft and to the home of an overman who went to the pit and, about 1.30 p.m., informed the manager of what had occurred.

In the meantime Waterson, Shield and Charlton commenced rescue operations. Waterson and Shield got to Potts but Waterson was overcome by afterdamp before they could move Potts. Shield dragged Waterson a yard or two then went to seek help from Charlton, who was a little farther outbye. Charlton, was, however, not only unable to help but unable to get outbye himself. Shield, by this time unable to help any of the other three men, managed to make his way into fresh air on the mothergate.

A party of officials led by the manager descended the mine, taking with them a reviving apparatus. From the shaft bottom a messenger was sent to telephone to the agent and to the rescue station. The party reached the scene of the accident about 2.0 p.m. They met Shield on the mothergate, then went along the inbye cross heading to the left tailgate where they found Charlton lying unconscious about 45 yards from the face. They used the reviving apparatus, then brought him to the mothergate. They recovered the body of Waterson about 30 yards from the face. The manager then made an attempt to bring out the body of Potts but was unable to do so. The Ashington rescue brigade arrived shortly afterwards and, wearing self-contained breathing apparatus, they recovered the body of Potts.

Potts and Waterson both died as the result of inhaling carbon monoxide. Subsequent investigation disclosed the presence of firedamp and carbon monoxide on the face and in the left tailgate, and of several spent matches and portions of cigarettes in the vicinity. It was apparent that firedamp had accumulated between the fall and the left tailgate and had been ignited. Coal dust played no part in the explosion; the coal was of hard texture and faces and roadways were damp. There was no sign of force and little of burning.

There was no direct evidence of the cause of ignition. The safety lamps from the affected area were tested at the Mines Department Testing Station, Sheffield, and may also be eliminated as possible causes; the finding of the spent matches and the portions of cigarettes, although only circumstantial evidence, would appear to point strongly to the cause.

The circumstances attending the accident reflect no credit upon those responsible for the management of the colliery. The fall on the face doubtless impeded the ventilation to some extent but the current was normally weak and not until five days later was the face sufficiently cleared of noxious and inflammable gases to permit of inspection. Had proper provision been made for the general ventilation of this district, there would have been no need for an auxiliary fan. As the fan had, however, been found necessary, persons should not have been employed on the face during the removal of the fan.

In the circumstances which prevailed, the searching of persons employed for contraband was, strictly speaking, not a legal requirement. Searching of a sort was carried out but was not effective.

The manager and other officials and workmen displayed considerable courage in the rescue operations but had the rescue brigades been summoned earlier the work might have been attended with greater success. A telephone message sent at once from the scene of the accident to the surface and relayed to the rescue station would have made it possible for rescuers wearing self-contained breathing apparatus to have been at work before the time when the manager and his party actually reached the scene.

Safety lamps have since been installed throughout the mine.

Source:

1936 Mines Inspectors Report

	Potts, Thomas Boyd, Deputy, explosion of firedamp
	Waterson, Thomas, Deputy, explosion of firedamp
	All names found

 

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