SEAHAM. Seaham, Durham. 9th. September 1880.

The colliery was the property of the Marquis of Londonderry and was near Seaham Harbour, sixteen miles from Newcastle and one and a half miles from the coast. The coal from the colliery was sent to Seaham harbour where it was shipped to home and foreign ports and at the time, the colliery was large and one of the deepest in the country and at the time of the disaster was employing three hundred and sixty men above ground and one thousand three hundred and forty men and boys below. It was under the management of Mr. V.W. Corbett who was the chief mineral agent and Mr. T.H. Stratton was the resident certificated manager.

There were two shafts at the colliery, No.1 and No.2 pits. The one on the east side to the Harvey Seam was divided into two equal parts by a three-inch brattice. Both were used for drawing coal and were fourteen feet in diameter and was the downcast shaft. The other was one hundred and fifty yards deep sunk to the Hutton seam. This is the No.3 shaft and was fourteen feet in diameter and was used for drawing coals and was divided with brattice and is the upcast shaft.

The seams were at two hundred and fifty-five fathoms, the Maudlin Seam was thrown down to this level by a deep fault and was reached by a stone drift and the ventilation furnace was also at this level. The two districts that were worked at the colliery were the Hutton seam which was to the north of fault which brought the seam down to the level of the Harvey seam. The east side of the pit was sunk to this level at two hundred and eighty-one fathoms with a drift driven through into the Hutton seam. This was as the No.2 pit and the workings were immediately beneath the Maudlin seam.

The Main Coal seam was at two hundred and eighteen fathoms and was three hundred and fifty yards west of the No.3 pit. The coal that was got in this level was dropped down a staple to the Hutton seam level at two hundred and fifty yards to the west of No.3 and then were drawn to the pit bank.

The Seaham pit, like many in the area, had a partition of planking running down the centre. The planking was of three-inch planks of the best quality and it was on the same principle as the Hartley colliery but at Seaham, there were three shafts, one upcast and two downcast but there were one hundred yards of partition in the drawing shaft and in the fire there had been destroyed. Mr. William Pickard, from Lancashire, offered to give evidence to the inquiry after he had inspected the mine.

At 10 p.m. on a Thursday night, two hundred and thirty-one men and boys descended. There were eleven deputies, eight coal hewers, one hundred and forty-six stone-men and shifters, twenty-four putters and drawers, two enginemen and firemen, four horse keepers, two onsetters, two furnacemen, and two fitters. All went well until, at 2.30 a.m., the explosion took place. It was heard at the pit bank and was described as being “like the report of a heavy canon”. The report was followed by an upheaval of dust and smoke and a large number of brilliant sparks from the shaft.

The explosion killed everyone in Nos.1 and 3 Hutton Seam and the Maudlin Seam except the on-setter at the bottom of the downcast shaft and four shifters who escaped from the south side workings.

Everyone working in the Hutton and Main Coal escaped the explosion. Forty-two people got out of the No.2 Hutton seam and nineteen from Main Coal. Four persons also escaped from the returns from the south way in the No.3 Hutton seam but thirteen others, who had refused to accompany them, died. With the on-setter from the No.1 pit who escaped, only five from the Hutton Seam were saved. A total of sixty-seven got out of the pit alive.

Of those that lost their lives, twenty-eight were hewers, ninety-nine were stonemen and workmen, twenty were putters or drivers, two were enginemen or firemen, four were horse keepers and two were furnacemen.

The manager, Mr. Stratton, was soon at the pit with several other officials and set about rescue operations as soon as possible. It was soon discovered that all the three shafts were blocked and the cages jammed so that they would move neither up nor down. The manager and two workmen were lowered down the air shaft by rope loops when they heard distant raps from the main coal seam but the mass of rubbish on the road prevented them getting near the entombed miners and they found some of the men still alive.

The explorers were brought back to the pit bank and had a consultation with Mr. Bell, the Mines Inspector, the viewers and other colliery managers and as a result, the efforts were doubled to get the shafts into working order.

One shaft was cleared during the day and by the afternoon another party was made up and went down the pit. Nineteen men were reached in the Main Coal Seam and three of these were brought to the pit bank up the No.2 shaft. These were the ones that Mr. Stratton had heard when he first descended. Later a fourth man, William Cowley, was brought up and said that there were others waiting at the pit bottom.

It was found that there were sixteen others who were at the pit bottom. They were told to stay where they were until proper arrangements could be made to bring them up and the work of clearing up went on and forty more men were found alive in the workings. During the afternoon, batches of these men were brought out of the pit but it was thought that about one hundred and seventeen were still believed to be in the fated mine. The Hutton seam was third from the top and was worked in three sections about a mile from each other. The Main was the first to be explored, then the Maudlin and finally the Hutton.

The Marquis of Londonderry arrived at the colliery and had consultations with the managers. About 10 a.m. on Thursday a party of viewers returned to the surface and reported that the colliery was on fire in three places, in the stables, the Hutton and the Maudlin seams and the engine house of the No.1 pit was on fire.

The work of exploration and recovery was slow and dangerous due to the damage to the shafts and the wreckage in the main ways. When the rescue parties got to the bottom of the shaft, it was found that there were fires burning in the No.1 engine house and the donkey engine house, the Maudlin stables and the bottom of the Main Coal staple.

An attempt was made to explore the east of the Maudlin seam where another fire was found raging in the stables. This was fed by the fresh air that the rescuers had brought in and there was a great danger of an explosion so the decision was taken to cut off the ventilation and everyone was withdrawn from the mine. The furnace fires had to be extinguished and the work of recovery went on until the 1st. October when one hundred and thirty-six bodies were recovered from the No.1 and No.3 pits, in the Hutton Seam and the north district of the Maudlin Seam.

Sixty-seven survivors had been brought out of the pit and numerous bodies were found and brought to the pit bank. Nearly two hundred horses and ponies were killed and it was soon evident that great damage had been done to the mine.

The work at the colliery continued and the rubbish was cleared and the ventilation restored. More mangled bodies were brought up and they could be identified only by their clothes. More than fifty horses and ponies were found in the Hutton and Main seams and they were brought to the surface.

On the Saturday morning after the disaster, the Home Secretary visited the colliery and was met by Lord Castlereigh M.P., the eldest son of the Marquis of Londonderry. The Home Secretary took the occasion to compliment Mr. Stratton who had just come up the No.3 shaft with a body and he complimented him on his gallantry on being the first to descend the pit.

There was an official statement at the pit on Monday evening. The statement read:

That in the opinion of this committee, it would be very unsafe to open out the stoppings in the Maudlin Seam for a considerable time yet. In the meantime, every possible attention must be placed to places where air can possibly get into the shut-off workings, particularly in the Low Main Seam. The committee has fully considered the question that, under no circumstances, can danger to those workings arise from the fact of the Maudlin seam being opened.

There was another meeting of engineers and the management of the colliery on Tuesday and it was agreed that the plan to renew the ventilation and furnaces was to go ahead as soon as possible. The No.1 pit was in the charge of William Coulson a master sinker of Durham, who expected to have the cage working by the next day, and by Wednesday night there would be an opening through to the Hutton seam. When this was done, the recovery of the bodies could commence.

By Thursday the exploring party had got the ventilation in and reached the No.1 pit in the Hutton seam. This was called the “Far-off Way” which is about one and a quarter miles from the No.3 shaft in the South District. They found that much of the mine had been destroyed by the violence of the explosion.

Strangely they did not find any falls nor did any of the bodies bear any trace of violence. From the appearance of the bodies, it would seem that none of their lamps had gone out. The men seemed to have been travelling outbye, aware of the explosion and had been overcome by chokedamp. They were found with their lamps still in their hands. Twenty men and boys were employed in this part of the mine and fifteen men and boys had been recovered. Two or three were found with their backs against the coal, sitting as though they were asleep. Some of the bodies were in a bad state and were swollen and the stench was very great. They were identified by their lamp numbers and the clothes that they wore.

There was an underground consultation and the men were sent up the shaft to get disinfectants and sheets. Each body was disinfected and tied up in a canvass sheet then placed on a stretcher to be carried out ready to go up the shaft to the pit bank. The exploring party could have made its way to the face but it was thought that this would be unwise because of the stench and the foul air. There were still about 100 men left in the mine.

By 5 a.m. on Thursday the fires were out but all hope was lost of getting anyone else out of the mine alive. The explorers found no traces of gas in the pit but the victims had suffered the full force of the explosion and were badly mutilated.

One man was described as being “as flat as a board.” The majority of those saved were from the Hutton No.3 pit which was only four hundred yards from the shaft. The other two sections of the seam, where the bodies were supposed to be, was up to two and a half miles from the shaft.

The rescuers found messages scratched on a water bottle by Michael Smith after the explosion:

Dear Macerate*, there are 40 of us altogether at 7 am. Some are singing hymns, but my thoughts were on little Michael that he and I would meet in Heaven at the same time. Oh, dear wife God save you and the children and pray for me. Dear wife, farewell, my thoughts are about you and the children, be sure to learn the children to pray for me. Oh what an awful position we are in.

*A researcher has said that this name should be Margaret, presumably the writing on the water bottle was unclear. Michael and his young son are buried in Christ Church cemetery.

At a conference of engineers at the surface, it was considered unsafe to recover the bodies and it was decided to seal the Maudlin seam as soon as possible but weeks were to pass before the pit was in working order again. The work was completed on the 2nd of October by putting two strong stone dams, or stoppings in the two intakes and one in the main return. This left twenty-nine bodies that had not been recovered.

It was hoped to re-open at the mine by the end of the year but a careful examination showed that there was some leakage of gas from some of the old workings in the Low Main seam and further stoppings and dams had to be made and it was thought prudent not to re-open the mine.

Those who lost their lives were:

  • Thomas Alexander aged 36 years.
  • William Barrass aged 28 years.
  • John Batey aged 33 years.
  • William Bell aged 44 years.
  • James Best aged 51 years.
  • Joseph Birkbeck aged 64 years.
  • Joseph Bowden aged 22 years.
  • William Breeze aged 33 years.
  • William Brown aged 54 years.
  • Edward Brown aged 21 years.
  • George Brown aged 62 years.
  • Nathaniel Brown aged 20 years.
  • George Brown aged 26 years.
  • Patrick Carroll aged 44 years.
  • Thomas Cassady aged 22 years.
  • Joseph Chapman aged 35 years.
  • James Clark, snr. aged 47 years.
  • James Clark, jnr. aged 20 years.
  • Robert Clarke aged 71 years.
  • Joseph Clark aged 23 years.
  • Richard Cole aged 44 years.
  • Joseph Cook aged 32 years.
  • John Copeman aged 32 years.
  • Joseph Cowey aged 40 years.
  • William Crossman aged 18 years.
  • Thomas Cummings aged 71 years.
  • Walter Dawson aged 49 years.
  • Charles Dawson aged 37 years.
  • Robson Dawson aged 34 years.
  • Richard Defty aged 28 years.
  • John Dinning aged 51 years.
  • George Diston aged 55 years.
  • Isaac Ditchburn aged 39 years.
  • Lees Ball Dixon aged 26 years.
  • George Dixon aged 47 years.
  • James Dodgin aged 62 years.
  • Richard Drainer aged 56 years.
  • Robert Dunn aged 24 years.
  • Henry Elesbury aged 70 years.
  • William Fife aged 44 years.
  • Jacob Fletcher aged 50 years.
  • Thomas Foster aged 17 years.
  • Thomas Foster aged 64 years.
  • Richard George aged 31 years.
  • Dominic Gibbons aged 46 years.
  • Thomas Gibson aged 37 years.
  • Robert Graham aged 26 years.
  • Thomas Greenwell aged 29 years.
  • Anthony Greenbanks aged 27 years.
  • John Grey aged 51 years.
  • John Grounds aged 19 years.
  • Thomas Grounds aged 27 years.
  • William Hall aged 60 years.
  • William Hancock aged 19 years.
  • Robert Haswell aged 19 years.
  • Thomas Hays snr. aged 46 years.
  • Thomas Hays jnr. aged 23 years.
  • James Hedley aged 17 years.
  • Michael Henderson, snr, aged 57 years.
  • Roger Henderson aged 25 years.
  • Michael Henderson, jnr. aged 22 years.
  • William Henderson aged 19 years.
  • James Higginbottom aged 62 years.
  • Thomas Hindson aged 40 years.
  • William Hood aged 28 years.
  • George Hopper aged 51 years.
  • Charles Horam aged 26 years.
  • John Hunter aged 25 years.
  • Thomas Hutchinson aged 60 years.
  • John Jackson aged 61 years.
  • Robert Johnson aged 34 years.
  • Edward Johnson aged 39 years.
  • James Johnson aged 22 years.
  • Thomas Keenan aged 37 years.
  • Michael Keenan aged 50 years.
  • James Kent aged 16 years.
  • John Kirk aged 67 years.
  • John Knox aged 17 years.
  • David Knox aged 14 years.
  • George F. Lamb aged 36 years.
  • Robson Lawson aged 14 years.
  • John Lock aged 50 years.
  • Joseph Lonsdale aged 67 years.
  • Joseph Lonsdale aged 48 years.
  • John Lonsdale aged 27 years.
  • Thomas Lowdey aged 48 years.
  • John McGuinis aged 31 years.
  • William McLauchlin aged 54 years.
  • John Mason aged 21 years.
  • John Miller aged 25 years.
  • William Moore aged 30 years.
  • William Morris aged 54 years.
  • Walter Murray aged 42 years.
  • John Measham aged 42 years.
  • John Henry Norris aged 23 years.
  • James Ovington aged 49 years.
  • John Owens aged 14 years.
  • George Page aged 55 years.
  • John Thomas Patterson aged 31 years.
  • Mark Phillips aged 22 years.
  • Joseph Pickles aged 51 years.
  • Edward Pinkard aged 18 years.
  • John Potter aged 43 years.
  • Robert Potter aged 47 years.
  • William Potts aged 41 years.
  • Henry Ramsay aged 33 years.
  • Anthony Ramshaw aged 65 years.
  • Robert Rawlings aged 39 years.
  • Joseph Rawlings aged 49 years.
  • Benjamin Redshaw aged 25 years.
  • William Richardson aged 53 years.
  • John Riley aged 70 years.
  • Thomas Roberts aged 45 years.
  • George Roper aged 25 years.
  • William Roxby aged 24 years.
  • Alexander Sanderson aged 34 years.
  • Anthony Scarfe aged 40 years.
  • Silas Scrafton aged 17 years.
  • George Sharp aged 39 years.
  • George Shields aged 23 years.
  • James Shields aged 25 years.
  • Robert Shields aged 52 years.
  • John Short aged 18 years.
  • William Sigh aged 30 years.
  • William Simpson aged 31 years.
  • James Slavin aged 26 years.
  • Michael Smith aged 34 years.
  • Anthony Smith aged 39 years.
  • Christopher Smith aged 36 years.
  • Thomas Luke aged 26 years.
  • John Southern aged 40 years.
  • William Spanton aged 39 years.
  • John Spry aged 49 years.
  • Joseph Straughan aged 21 years.
  • William Strawbridge aged 48 years.
  • William Henry Taylor aged 24 years.
  • Joseph Theobald aged 67 years.
  • Henry Turnbull or Bleasdale, aged 23 years.
  • Robert Clark Straughan aged 17 years.
  • Alfred James Turner aged 18 years.
  • Samuel Venner aged 52 years.
  • William Venner aged 24 years.
  • James Walker aged 42 years.
  • Joseph Waller aged 16 years.
  • Benjamin Ward aged 35 years.
  • John Watson aged 38 years.
  • Frank Watson aged 61 years.
  • John Weir aged 47 years.
  • Robert Wharton aged 35 years.
  • John Whitefield aged 17 years.
  • William Wilkinson aged 40 years.
  • Samuel Wilkinson aged 26 years.
  • John Wilkinson aged 20 years.
  • William Wilkinson aged 20 years.
  • Thomas Henry Williams aged 14 years.
  • David Williams aged 18 years.
  • Thomas Wright aged 26 years.

The hundred and sixty-one dead left one hundred and five widows, one hundred and twenty-six sons, one hundred and thirty-nine daughters, six mothers, four sisters and two grandchildren, a total of three hundred and eighty-two people who would require relief.

Most of those killed were members of the Northumberland and Durham Permanent relief Association and at a conference in Manchester, Mr. William Pickard, the Miners agent for Lancashire, said Lord Londonderry had taken a great interest in the workforce and the sufferers of the calamity. He also criticised the system of sinking pits in the north. The pits were sunk through Magnesian limestone and had a problem with water. Pickard was also critical of the use of gunpowder in the mine and held the opinion that powder should not be used in fiery mines.

The inquest into the disaster was opened on the 10th of September by Mr. Crofton Maynard Esq., Coroner for Easington. At the first session, the jury formally identified some of the bodies at the Londonderry Institute in Seaham and the proceedings were then adjourned until the 19th October. At the resumption of proceedings.

The inquest opened and the Inspector wanted the proceedings to be adjourned until all the evidence from the mine had been gathered but the coroner said he would start the evidence from men who had worked at the pit when the explosion took palace so that it would be fresh in their minds.

The evidence was taken first from the hewers and that “class of man” and then from the overmen and finally from the expert witnesses, the viewers and finally the scientific evidence.

William Cummings was the first witness. He was employed as a shifter and went to work at 10 p.m. on Tuesday. John Mason and George Dixon were with him. At 2.20 he felt a strong wind from the direction of the shaft about a mile from No.3 and he heard a report.

Thomas Hinsdson was making man-holes and he had been told not to fire shots without orders. On his way to the shaft, he saw a burnt man and dead one against a tub near the main staple pit. He came to a fire which they could not put out as they were exhausted. The main staple was wrecked as the blast came up. By 4 p.m. they had got the fire out and tried to make their way to Nos.1 and 3 shafts. They could not get to the bottom of No.3 so they went to the bottom of the staple pit and waited there until 5 a.m. They shouted and got no answer. In travelling from No.3 to No.1, they found a heavy fall near the Maudlin engine and a body with clothes on which was on fire. They extinguished this and some timber also. On getting to the Maudlin they found another fall and a body that they did not recognise at the time.

They went on and found another fall and three men in a hole who came out when they got there. There was a fall at No.3 and he asked Robert Wilson to go over the fall and he followed. They found Laverick unconscious. The party got to the shaft and stayed there until they were got out of the pit.

Ralph Marley was a stoneman and he felt a shock and then there was a smell. His mate went to see if there were falls and he came back and said that there were not. He and a workman named Wilson went towards the shafts and found smoke. They then went to the staple top and found fresh air and wreckage. They found Wardle in the overman’s cabin. He was not burnt but he was cut. They got him to the shaft and then went to warn their comrades. They all got out alive, with the exception of Rowlings who was killed.

The inquest into the death of the men killed at the colliery on 8th. September last was resumed on Wednesday the 5th January 1881 in the Londonderry Literary Institution in Seaham before Mr. Crofton Maynard the coroner.

Mr. Wright barrister was assisted by Messrs. Bell and Willis the Government Inspectors and Mr. Atkinson the assistant Inspector represented the Home Office. Mr. Edge barrister appeared on behalf of the Company and Mr. Atherley Jones, barrister, was present on behalf of the Miners Union. Also present Mr. J.B. Eminson the manager of the colliery, Mr. Corbett, the head viewer, and Messrs. Foreman and Paterson of the Durham Miners Union. There were many colliers and spectators present and the room was packed.

Jacob Steel a stone man said that he was in the Hutton seam at the time of the explosion. From what he saw when he was coming out of the mine the explosion might have occurred in the Hutton No.3 or the Maudlin seams. In the Hutton No.1 there were signs that the blast had gone in-bye and there were three or four inches of dust on the tube. When questioned further he thought that the blast came from the furnace but he could not account for the furnaceman being found under the bars. He had a good opinion of the management if the pit,

John Turner, a stoneman, said that he worked in the No.3 Hutton seam and when he left the pit at 11 a.m. on the morning of the explosion the two Venners were preparing a shot at the refuge hole near the staple which would be fired that night.

Hinsdson and Rawlings had fired a shot about 20 yards out-bye from the Venners but they would not be firing on the night of the explosion, and he saw no danger in firing the shots.

Two paraffin lamps were used at the main coal staple bottom and these were ordinary lamps. The master shifter used to light them between two and three o’clock in the morning and they were put out when the night shift was down. He never knew of any orders being given that they should not be lighted. He was of the opinion that it was these lamps that fired the gas and that the gas came from the old workings in the No.3 Hutton seam.

William Crozier a hewer was one of the men’s examiners and he inspected the Hutton No.3 , Third East Way, the Main Coal and the Maudlin seams in July last and found gas in a new return in the East Maudlin. The master wasteman ordered canvas to be put up and clear it away.

The system of management of the colliery was a good one in his opinion and no expense was spared and the rules were observed as far as he knew. One man, Robert Greener had made a complaint when gas was found and found fault with the examiners and the men complained that their lamps had to him 5 yards from the face because of the gas and they said that this was too far. They also complained that one of the deputies was dismissed for allowing the men to work in this way when the place was not workable. The deputy was Thomas Forster who sold up and went to America within a fortnight. He was of the opinion that the explosion was caused by Venners shot.

Joseph Spence a master was the man was the next to be called and said that he was in the pit the day before the explosions and saw nothing to alarm him. He had seen gas within 60 yards of the furnace but it was not explosive but well mixed. He had no idea how the explosion occurred. Thomas Burt a hewer another of the men’s examiners was the next to be examined and had made the examination with Crozier. Thee found gas in the goaf of the Hutton No.1 and he thought that the explosion had taken place at the bottom of the No.3 staple Hutton and started between Venners shot and the staple bottom.

There was then some discussion between the legal gentlemen present with Mr. Edge barrister for the company bringing up the question about these seats of the explosion being not clear and the question of coal dust.

Hails Harrison a stoneman said that he thought that the explosion occurred in the No.1 fore holes and that 20 years ago he remembered coal dust taking fire at the bottom of the No.1 Hutton shaft.

Mr. T.H.M. Stratton, the manager of the colliery at the time of the explosion said that examinations at the pit effectively began on 15th September. Previous to that what had been done was to try and save the men in the pit. He repeated his evidence as to being sent for on the morning of the explosion, his descent into the pit and what was done.

On the descents of the 8th September, he got as far as the main staple and found great disorder. He went down the No.3 shaft and found everything a great wreck and then he came up to find a means of putting out the fire. He went down again and remained down until 3 the next morning.

There was also a fire in the No.1 stables and during this time the men were extinguishing the fir and he was going through the pit where possible. All the men and ponies were dead. He had a consultation with engineers on the 10th. September and it was decided that no more explorations should be made until the gas was dealt with.

They got all the bodies out on the 9th and 10th that were near the shaft before the Maudlin Seam was closed.

On the 28th January 1881, Lord Londonderry the owner of the Seaham Colliery decided to open the colliery at Old Durham in consequence of the men at the Seaham Colliery refusing to work until the entombed bodies were recovered from the Maudlin seam of that mine. Old Durham colliery had been closed for several years and will give employment to about 700 men.

 

REFERENCES
The Mines Inspector Report, 1880.
The Colliery Guardian, 10th September 1880, p.421, 24th September 1880, p.501, 22nd October, p. 662, 17th December 1880, p.975, 7th January 1881, p.21, 14th January 1881, p.56, 5th August 1881, p.213, 225. 2nd September 1881, p.375.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

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