Cyfing Colliery Explosion – Swansea – 1858

CYFING. Swansea, Glamorganshire. 11th. August, 1858.

The colliery was owned by Mr. Thomas Walters of Swansea. It was also known as the Crimea Pit. The colliery had not been open for long and it had worked only a small quantity of coal but blowers of gas had been found in the pit. There had been an explosion at the colliery about four months before when William Issac’s son was burnt.

The manger, Mr. Rees Thomas, went down the pit about once a month. Rees Thomas gave a description of the colliery and the ventilation system:

The air passes down the pit along the west course, rises along the headings pointing to the north then back an upper level to the east down a slope, and down through the stalls to the lower level, and then to the upcast pit. The pit is divided by a brick brattice four and a half inches thick. The upcast pit is two and a half feet wide by ten and a half feet. There is only one door on the first stall, on the western side of the pit. Part of the air goes up the works, and when necessary we place a door to send it further on. We allow the whole of the air to distribute through the whole five stalls, so as to send the air through the whole. The air passes on to the face of the level without a door on the second stall, which is a distance of 120 yards. The air does go there the use of the door on the first stall is to prevent the air returning up the heading of the workings.

There was furnace night and day in the airway at the top of the pit and Thomas Evans was the furnaceman.

On the morning of the explosion the men went down the pit and had not gone far along the main road when the disaster took place. The colliery was not examined before the men went in and the Inspector found that the ventilation was “most defective”.

William Williams went to the pit at 8 a.m. and went down with David Jones. He sometimes worked as a cutter and had more authority than the other colliers. He was paid 10/- a month extra to see that everything was all right underground. Jones tested for gas near the bottom of the shaft before the men went to work but did not go into the workings. There were twelve men at the pit bottom, John Morgan, Owen Owens, John Jones, John Harris, John David Evans, David Williams, William Jones and some others. They were sitting down smoking before they went to work. David Jones and Williams were the first to go into the mine. They were sitting 20 to 30 yards from the pit bottom. They sat there for about half an hour and Williams went back the way he had come. John Morgan went in the opposite direction to his work. Williams had gone about five or six yards with a naked candle in his hand when the explosion took place but it was not his candle that ignited the gas. The doors at the bottom of the pit were blown from east to west and the violence of the explosion broke the guide chains

The men who died were:

• David Jones aged 30 years, overman,
• Lewis Jones aged 14 years,
• William Jones aged 13 years,
• David Williams aged 38 years,
• Owen Owens aged 17 years,
• John Jones aged 33 years.

Three men were injured,

• John David Evans,
• John Morgan, slightly burned,
• John Harris suffered a broken leg. Lewis and Davin were the overman’s sons.

The inquest was held before Mr. Charles Collins the Coroner with Mr. William Simons watching the proceedings on behalf of the relatives of the deceased and C.H. James acting on behalf of the proprietors of the colliery.

William Williams, a collier who survived the explosion gave evidence at the inquest. He had a naked light but he did not think that it was this that caused the explosion but he did not know if Morgan also had a candle. He said that Morgan did not make a thorough inspection of the mine before the men went to work. Williams told the court that he did not have a copy of the rules of the colliery.

The door on the east was opened to let waggons and colliers pass and Rees Thomas, the manager,  said that if this door was left open then the pit would fill with gas. The doors did not shut of their own accord but there was a boy employed to open and close them. Mr. Thomas also said that the rules of the pit had been sent and they were posted at on the door of the engine room and that it was required for every employee to have a copy under the Act. he had not read the rules to David Jones and was not sure that he could read but he had explained them to him about a fortnight before the explosion.

John Thomas, the banksman at the colliery, said that the furnace was not attended at night and he had light it on several occasions.

In his evidence to the inquiry, Mr. Thomas Evans, the Inspector, had examined the colliery after the disaster with Lionel Brough, another of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and found that the explosion occurred near the bottom of the slope in the western district. Gas had accumulated in the stalls at the top of the slope. In his opinion, the furnace at the top of the pit was of little use to ventilate the mine since the air it used came from the surface and should have been placed at the bottom of a proper upcast shaft. He found that the whole of the western working was unventilated and the working of the colliery, “unsafe, defective and dangerous”. Mr. Brough concurred with Mr. Evan’s statement.

The coroner addressed the jury and told them that they had to decide, first, the cause of the explosion and second was blame attributable to either the overman, the deceased David Jones or to Rees Thomas, the general manager? After an hours consultation the jury returned the following verdict:

Accidental death but the jury consider that the colliery is not properly ventilated and some degree of blame is attributable to Rees Thomas, the manager.

Proceedings were instituted by the magistrate against the owner and the agent of the colliery for violations involving the lack of inspection before the men went down and the highest penalties were imposed. They were fined £35 with expenses, a total of £40.

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report, 1858. Mr. Thomas Evans.
The Colliery Guardian, 11th August 1858. p.122

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