BROADOAK. Loughor, Glamorganshire. 5th. January, 1897.

The colliery was the property of Samuel Thomas and the explosion took the lives of five men. The colliery was small and employed 70 to 80 men. Mr. Thomas was the manager who held a first-class certificate and the undermanager was Mr. David Davies who held a second class certificate. The downcast shaft was 190 yards deep and the upcast shaft 200 yards deep. The ventilation was by a Waddel fan, 20 feet in diameter which was placed near the top of the upcast shaft. The seam that was being worked, was the Five Feet seam of bituminous coal and was worked by the pillar and stall method. Firedamp was produced and the mine was lit by locked safety lamps. The workings were dry and dusty.

On the evening of the 4th, a night shift had gone to work and the three or four men of this shift had ascended between 4 and 5 a.m. the following morning. They left seven men in the pit, six of whom were repairers and the other, the fireman in charge. At 5 a.m. just as the day fireman was about to descend, the explosion occurred. Five of those in the pit were killed and two others escaped unhurt. Two of these men were repairing on the Gelly slope.

The body of the fireman was found and the bonneted gauze of his Clanny lamp was found about 20 yards higher up the road. On the following Friday the remaining part of the lamp was found near the same spot.

The dead were named as:

  • David Lewis aged 52 years, fireman,
  • Thomas Bowen aged 26 years, collier,
  • Thomas White aged 45 years, collier,
  • Morgan Sanders aged 32 years, collier,
  • John Toulmin aged 38 years, collier.

After the disaster, the inspection found that there were heavy falls of the roof from the downcast to the foot of the incline and on the level from the top of the incline westwards. In other parts the falls were slight. All the main doors were blown away. Thick deposits of coked coal dust were found on the props and sides and face of the coal and everywhere there was a thick covering of coal dust.

The safety lamps of the four workmen were found locked and from the careful examination of the workings, the Inspector was convinced that the explosion originated in the No.2 slope and that it was caused by the fireman opening his lamp. The explosion was intensified by the large amounts of coal dust that were present.

The jury returned the following verdict on the deaths of the men:

We believe that the cause of the explosion was the opening of David Lewis’s lamp but not amounting to culpable negligence on his part.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report 1897. Mr. Robson.
The Colliery Guardian, 8th January 1897, p.77, 15th January, p.116.

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

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