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REPORT.
1. Upwards of 160 lives were lost in the explosion which occurred about 2.20 a.m. on Wednesday, the 8th September 1880, at the Seaham Colliery, in the county of Durham, the property of the Marquis of Londonderry.
An inquest was opened by Mr. Maynard on the 10th September, and adjourned from time to time. Evidence was taken on the 15th September, on three days in October, three in January 1881, and two in April 1881. The proceedings were attended by counsel representing respectively the Home Office, the proprietors, and the Miners' Association, and by Messrs. Bell and Willis, the Inspectors of Mines for Durham and Northumberland, and Mr. Atkinson, the assistant inspector. Many witnesses were examined, including two members of the Mines Accidents Prevention Commission. A highly important series of experiments was made in January, February, and March by Professor Abel for the purposes of the inquiry. The proprietor and managers of the colliery gave all the information and assistance in their power. Repeated examinations of all accessible parts of the mine were made by the inspectors and their assistants, and no efforts have been spared on any side to discover the cause of the disaster. These efforts have not been entirely successful, and the jury necessarily returned an open verdict. It will, however, be seen that the proceedings have not been barren of important results.
In one respect the inquiry has been necessarily incomplete. One of the districts of the mine, known as the Maudlin pit or district, was found to be on fire a few days after the explosion, and was sealed up in order to prevent the spread of the fire. Some months may elapse before it can safely be re-opened. In the meantime it was not thought right to delay the inquest. The evidence tends to negative any suggestion that the explosion took place in this district, which had been partly explored before it was sealed. When it has been opened and completely explored it is intended to hold another inquest if any discovery is made which appears likely to throw any further light on the subject.
2. It may be at once stated that no imputation has been or could properly be cast upon the management of the colliery. Subject only to the observations in the concluding paragraph of this report, it does not appear that either in respect of liberality of expenditure on the part of the proprietor, or in respect of skill in the management by Mr. Stratton and his subordinate officers, or in respect of the discipline and conduct of the colliers and labourers, anything was wanting which foresight could have provided to ensure the greatest practicable degree of safety.
It was indeed suggested on the part of the miners that the colliery is becoming too extensive to be safely worked by a single pair of shafts, but the suggestion was not countenanced by any of the eminent mining engineers and managers who gave evidence.
3. The colliery is situated near the coast at about the supposed centre and at one of the deepest parts of the Durham coalfield. It is worked at three levels by two shafts, the downcast being about 150 yards to the eastward of the upcast, A little to the east of the downcast shaft there is an important fault or dipper running from north-west to south-east, at which each of the seams is thrown down to a depth of about 105 feet on the eastward side of the fault below the depth of the same seam on the other side, so that a gallery driven in a seam on the west side of the fault may, if continued through the fault, enter at the same or nearly the same level on the other side one of the geologically higher seams, as shown in the sketch I.
| (i.) |
(1st level.) Descending the downcast shaft, at a depth of about 218 fathoms the Main Coal seam is found. It is largely worked to the westward of the fault as a separate level district or pit, called the Main Coal Pit or district. This seam has not been worked in its drop on the east side of the fault, nor is this level continued through the fault. About 20 yards below the main coal the Maudlin seam is pierced by the shaft, but is not worked at this level or on this side of the fault. It is however worked, as will presently appear, on the other side of the fault at a lower level. The Low Main Seam is penetrated at a few fathoms below the Maudlin, but is not worked. | |
| (ii.) |
(2nd or middle level.) The Hutton Seam is reached at a depth of 255 fathoms. It is extensively worked to the westward of the fault in two districts known respectively as the No. 1 Hutton to the south, and the No. 3 Hutton to the west. The workings at this level are also carried through the fault, and at a short distance beyond it they come into the Maudlin seam as thrown down by the fault, and are carried for a long distance eastward and northward in this seam nearly at the same level. The Low Main merges in the Maudlin at this level. This second or middle level, consisting of the Nos. 1 and 3 Hutton on one side of the fault continued into the Maudlin on the other, is the principal level of the colliery, and was the seat of the explosion, and will be more fully described below. | |
| (iii.) |
(3rd level.) About 26 fathoms below the Hutton the shaft penetrates the Harvey seam. This seam is not worked, but a level is driven from it through the fault, and there meets the downthrown Hutton seam, which is very extensively worked as the third or lowest level of the colliery, under the name of the Harvey or No. 2 Hutton. Below the Harvey the downcast shaft is carried down to the Busty seam at a depth of about 300 fathoms, but there are no workings in this seam. It thus appears that the colliery really consists of three collieries at different levels, all worked by the same pair of shafts. Of these three only the middle level was affected by the explosion. All the persons employed in the highest or main coal level or in the lowest or Harvey (or No. 2 Hutton) level escaped in safety, and no further reference will be made to either of these levels. There is at present no reason whatever to suppose that either of them contributed directly or indirectly by means of an escape of gas or otherwise to cause or to increase the effects of the explosion. |
4. The middle level, in which the explosion occurred, and to which its effects were confined, is worked in three districts, as indicated in the sketch II. One district consists of workings carried to the southward in the Hutton seam, and known as No. 1 Hutton ; the second consists of workings carried to the westward in the same seam, and known as No. 3 Hutton; the third consists of workings in the Maudlin seam, on the other side of the fault at the same level, and known as the Maudlin pit or district. All these three districts were violently affected by the explosion. A detailed plan showing the whole of these districts, with the intakes and returns and the situation of the goafs, is appended to this report.
5. Before proceeding to consider the evidence with respect to the place of origin and cause of the explosion, it will be convenient to give a general description of the working of the colliery.
| (1.) |
Areas of workings, &c. The main coal seam or highest level workings cover about 480 acres, including goafs. The working faces are about 750 yards. The greatest length of intake 3,618 yards; the greatest length of return 3,718 yards. The middle level worked in the Hutton and Maudlin seams, in which the explosion occurred, Is more extensive, and the workings cover about 500 acres, the goafs (principally round the No. 3 Hutton) about 1,200 more. The greatest lengths of intake are 3,375 yards in the No. 1 Hutton, 1,250 in the No. 3 Hutton, and 2,700 in the Maudlin; the returns being rather longer in each case. The working faces are about 1,700 yards in the No, 1 Hutton. about 190 yards in the No. 3 Hutton, and about 1,100 yards in the Maudlin. The lowest of the three levels, the Harvey or No. 2 Hutton, covers about 700 acres, including 75 of goaf, and the greatest length of intake is about 3,000 yards, the working faces about 3,000 yards. | |||||||||||||||||
| (2.) |
Output. The output from all the levels was about 500,000 tons a year, or about 2,000 to 2,500 per working day.
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| (3.) |
Number of persons employed and shifts. The number of persons employed was about 1,500. There are three working shifts and one repairing shift.
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| (4.) |
Officers. The staff of the colliery consisted of
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| (5.) |
Shafts. Each shaft is 14 feet gross diameter. The downcast is divided by a brattice. One half serves the highest and also the middle level, the other the lowest or No. 2 Hutton.
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| (6.) |
Seams, roof, floor, &c. The roofs are chiefly a hard post or sandstone, firmly adhering to the coal. The floor, especially in the Hutton seam, is soft. The main coal is about 5½ feet thick; the Maudlin, on the east side of the fault, where it is worked, is united with the low main, and is 8 to 10 feet thick in places, or even more. The Hutton is about 3 feet 3 inches thick. There is no creep, but the floors rise, especially in the Hutton.
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| (7.) |
Dryness. The colliery is exceptionally dry and is dusty. Out of 23 collieries hygrometricaily tested in 1869, this was found the driest. Immediately before the explosion it is stated by Mr. Atkinson to have been in an especially dry condition.
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| (8.) |
Method of working and goafs. There is a small piece of long wall in the Maudlin; but nearly the whole of the colliery is worked on the usual bord and pillar system of the country, which is preferred to long wall on the ground that the roof is hard and the bottom soft. The pillars are 40 yards square; the places are driven 44 yards centre to centre, leaving four yards for the stall roads. The broken is worked back, leaving the land weight to come down, which it usually does very rapidly, sometimes breaking square. The goafs are now very extensive. The No. 3 Hutton is almost completely surrounded by them.
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| (9.) |
Gas. Considerable blowers have occasionally occurred. Small issues are not uncommon in many places, especially near the goafs.
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| (10.) |
Ventilation. The ventilation is by two furnaces, one on each side of the upcast. The section of one is 9 feet by 7, of the other 9 feet by 6. They burn about 10 tons of coal each daily. They are fed by the return air, which is carried through them up separate drifts into the upcast above the main coal. The arrangement of the furnaces and drifts is shown in one of the appended plans, and roughly indicated in the sketch plan above. The furnaces are assisted by several boiler fires, two of which are fed by fresh air. The ventilation effected by these means is 320,000 to 330,000 cubic feet per minute. It is said that it would be impossible to get this ventilation through this colliery by means of a fan.
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| (11.) |
Lamps. The lamp principally in use was the Clanny. Davy's and Stephenson's were also in use. Since the explosion some Mueselers have been substituted.
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| (12.) |
Shots. Shots are not fired in the coal. They arc constantly used in driving the stone drifts, taking down roofs, and forming refuge holes. They are used under proper regulations, subject only to the usual and important question whether it is either legal or prudent to use them when the repairing shift is down within the three months after gas has issued so as to show a cap.
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Full details of the distances, sections, and splits of ventilation will be found in a table printed with Mr. Bell's report in the last day's evidence.
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