South Mostyn Colliery Explosion – Mostyn – 1861

SOUTH MOSTYN. Mostyn, Flintshire. 26th September, 1861.

The colliery was owned by Adam Eyton with Mr. John Williams as the manager. Six colliers lost their lives in an explosion of gas. The colliery had two shafts which were 110 and 140 yards deep respectively and 135 yards apart. From the bottom of the second shaft two tunnels extended 700 yards to the coal on the dip underneath the tideway of the River Dee. One of these tunnels was the return air course and opened out several coal seams all of which were now exhausted and abandoned. An overlying seam had been recently opened and it was in this seam that the explosion occurred. The mines between the shafts had been extracted and the return air form the workings on the deep was sent through the goaf which was intersected by faults and so it was difficult to keep a road open to the upcast shaft.

The mine was ventilated by a fan 6 feet 8 inches in diameter and 2 feet wide with vanes 2 feet deep. This was driven by straps from a steam engine with an 8-inch cylinder and 2 feet stroke which ran at about 300 revolutions per minute. The Inspector, Mr. Peter Higson had visited the colliery and raised a strong objection to the fan and for some time afterwards a furnace was used to ventilate the pit. He also found gas in the return air and as the workings were being extended he insisted on the use of safety lamps in the mine. He suggested that the tunnels and airways should be enlarged and a new shaft sunk. There was no objection by the management and lamps and work on enlarging the roads began almost at once and it was intended to sink another shaft.

Witnesses at the inquiry said that they saw the shed which covered the fan on fire for twenty minutes to half an hour before they heard the report of the explosion. Before the shed caught fire a strap on the engine had broken. The strap was repaired and the engine driver increased the fan speed to increase the ventilation but the shed caught fire.

The Inspector arrived at the colliery shortly after the explosion and found a considerable amount of gas a few yards from the bottom of the downcast shaft which prevented further operations to recover the dead and injured. The return airway had been closed by the explosion and gas was coming from the upcast shaft through the fan to such an extent that it fired at a lamp.

The deceased were found lying about midway in the tunnel dressed with their lamps locked and perfect and it was supposed that they were leaving their work and on their way out of the pit when they walked into the afterdamp.

Those who lost their lives were:

• Wm. Parry,
• Hugh Holland,
• Thomas Jones,
• John Roberts,
• John Ellis,
• Moses Daniels,
• Edward Twiss,
• Henry Roberts,
• Edward Hughes,
• Kendrick Roberts.

All were colliers.

Mr. Higson examined what he could underground after the accident but there was so much gas he was unable to find out how it had occurred as the colliery was closed.

It was stated that the north level was one of the mines which had recently passed through a fault and into another coal seam called the “Dwrbog”. Gas came from the start at the fault freely. The Manager, John Williams said that the fan had been used for only a short time and the return air still had to pass over the furnace. On one occasion he had seen flames coming out of the chimney at the surface.

The Inspector thought that:

For some weeks prior to the explosion, the colliery had been in a critical state and that the preparations for producing ventilation had reached the utmost limit. As the ventilation would almost cease with the last revolution of the fan, inflammable gas would then rapidly accumulate throughout the workings which might cause the poor fellows to leave their work a little before the usual time.

The fire in the fan shed would ignite the gas in the mine. He concluded his report:

The circumstances attending this casualty are such as to give rise to the most serious considerations, while they show in language stronger than can be written the superiority of the furnace over the fan where one fan only has been provided, and that in trusting to one only in this case an irretrievable error was committed. Where an underground furnace is properly constructed and of sufficient powder, but the heat which the shaft would acquire ventilation would be continued for some time even after the fire was subdued but in the case of other appliances, it ceases when their operation become suspended.

The jury found that the deceased persons came to their death accidentally and by misfortune and not otherwise.

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report, 1861. Mr. Peter Higson.
The Derbyshire Miners. J.E. Williams.

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