Dover Colliery Accident – Dover – 1897

DOVER. Dover, Kent. 6th. March, 1897.

The Kent coalfield is bounded by Canterbury and Folkstone in the west and Ramsgate in the northeast and extended under the Channel. The existence of the coal measures in Kent was postulated by de la Beche in 1846 and in more detail by Goodwin and Austen in 1856. It was supposed that Kent was on a line joining the South Wales and Bristol coalfields in the west and the coalfields of north-west France in the east. Between 1875 and 1874, a borehole was sunk at Battle but stopped at a depth of 1,905 feet Oxford Clay, when it was realised that it was sited too far south to strike the coal at economic depths. It was not until 1890 that the coal measures were proved to exist when they were struck by a borehole in the foreshore of the Shakespeare Cliff, one and a half miles south-west of Dover at a depth of 1,151 feet. The borehole, 15 inches in diameter, was commenced by using a percussion system in 1886 and coal was struck at 1,140 feet the diameter of the hole then being 9 inches. From that point it was carried forward by a diamond-tipped drill to a depth of 2,330 feet and finished with a diameter of 4 inches in February 1893.

Operations with a view to get the coal began by the Kent Coalfields Syndicate Limited in July 1896. The Brady Pit or No.1 shaft, 17 feet in diameter was sunk to 366 feet when it was stopped on the 16th October 1896 by an influx of water and there was no adequate means of raising it at the surface. Shortly afterwards the Simpson Pit or No.2 was commenced 20 feet in diameter. This shaft had reached 303 feet when the water burst in. The hoppet was at the surface and the water rose rapidly allowing only six of the fourteen men at the bottom of the shaft to escape. The rest lost their lives.

At about 10.55 p.m. on the day of the accident 14 men were at work at the bottom of the No.2 Simpson Pit which was a sinking pit when the water broke in, lifting the bottom. The men had to climb on to iron rings within the timber which lined the shaft for 40 feet. At the time the hoppet, a large iron bucket that was commonly used in sinking operations, was at the top being emptied but the cries of the men were heard and the hoppet was lowered. On being raised three men were brought out safely. One was hanging on the rope just above the safety hook, one on the chains below and one inside the hoppet which had send in it to within one foot of the top.

The hoppet was again lowered with a torch lamp attached and when it was raised three men were brought put. Again the hoppet was lowered this time with one of the men who had got out, John Little, master sinker. They descended to the surface of the water and carefully made an examination in the hope that others might be rescued but nine could be seen. The water had rise 80 feet up the shaft and of the 14 at work at the time only six escaped. The rest were drowned.

John Little, one of the survivors, gave an account of what had happened. He said,

I was in the bottom on the south side, and my back to the centre of the pit. I and Scott were striking at a wedge or punch. I heard someone shout “Lower the hoppet”, then turned round and saw water and sand rising from the bottom. I made to the spare hoppet, there were a number of men around it, and standing on it I do not remember how, but somehow I found myself climbing up the rings, climbed up to the top one, the water rising after me. The bridge was over the pit top. William Bishop was below me and there was one in the hoppet. After the hoppet had been lowered and brought up three more men, I went down in it with George Holder the chargeman we went to the water; each had a flaming torch lamp. The water was full of sand, boiling up, several boards were floating we looked carefully all over but saw no one, waited a minute or two and then were drawn up. About five minutes before the water broke in Bob Read and George Terry were striking at a punch in the northeast quarter of the bottom, there was parting in the flooring, a little water came, it was shovelled up with the dirt, no further notice was taken.

On the following day the only available means of getting the water out was a water barrel of 400-gallon capacity and this was put into operation. Pumps had already been ordered and this process was speeded up. The only boilers on the ground other than two portable engines were two boiler used by the Channel Tunnel Company.

On 16th March, a body floated up and was recovered. It proved to be that of John Davis Barrs. He probably had hold of the rope but lost his grip. On 17th March the pumps were finally got to work in the No.1 Pit and the drawing of water continued in the No.2 pit by barrel. As the water lowered time was taken to grapnel for the bodies and divers descended several times but found that all was covered by sand. Mr. G.P. Simpson the Managing Director, Mr. N.R. Griffith, the Consulting Engineer, Mr. Reid the Colliery Manager and Mr. Cousins for the Contract Company were unsparing in their efforts. On the 26th March it was recognised that although they were within a few feet of the bodies, they would not be recovered until there was an increase in the steam pressure. The erection of the new boilers was pressed on and by 6th April they were completed. On the 14th April the remaining seven bodies were recovered from four feet of sand. It was found that there were large pieces of hard green rock which had been broken and a water feed was coming up under pressure in the north-east corner of the pit which was nearest the borehole. The water was charged with firedamp and the conclusion was reached that it was coming from a great depth, probably 1,200 feet.

Those who lost their lives were:

• Samuel Wilmot aged 38 years, chargeman,
• Robert Reed aged 54 years, sinker,
• George Wigman aged 36 years, sinker,
• Richard Brookwell aged 22 years sinker,
• George Terry aged 22 years, labourer,
• John Davies Barrs aged 24 years, hoppet steadier,
• Henry Kitchen alias Newton aged 22 years, labourer.

Those who were rescued were:

• John Little aged 37 years, labourer,
• Samuel James aged 32 years, labourer,
• James Scott aged 31 years, sinker,
• William Walker aged 22 years, labourer,
• George Brooks aged 21 years, labourer.

All the survivors were cut and bruised in their desperate struggle for life.

The inquest into the disaster was conducted by Mr. R.M. Mercer of Canterbury, Coroner for East Kent when the dramatic stories of the survivors were given in court.

William James Bishop said:

I went down the Simpson pit on the 6th March at 9 a.m. with thirteen others, including my brother Charles, he was a native of Canterbury but I lived in Ramsgate for 18 years, he has been down the mines in the North of England. I had never before worked in the mines. The head man of the fourteen was Samuel Wilmot. The master sinker was George Holder, he came down after us and remained until a quarter past ten. I saw him trying the ground with a jumper drill. We had come to the hardest strata we had had to go through. We worked it with hammers and punches, as it was too hard for the picks. It took three men with sledgehammers to drive the punches into the ground. There were bore-holes in advance of where we were digging. This watch, which I had on at the time, has stopped at seven minutes past eleven. I set it by St. Mary’s church clock the same night. Another man in the pit had a watch on but his and mine do not correspond. I and James were picking up a lump of stuff to chuck into the hoppet, when someone called out that the ground was rising, we dropped it. I think it was Read that called out, he was working about two yards from me. The ground rose bodily just like opening a door, there was a tremendous inrush of water. I jumped for the rings on the side at once. There was no rope down the pit at the time we had sent the little hoppet up full of rubbish. I fell into the water twice before I got to the top of the rings when I had climbed as far as the brickwork and could go no further, the water came right up around me I turned my head around and fancied I saw a rope I saw the rope properly. I jumped and swam for the rope, and at length got hold of it, and was drawn to the top of the pit. I worked in the No.1 Brady Pit but was not there when the work was stopped on account of the water. The water came in there gradually we went down there so much deeper than the Simpson Pit.

George Brooks was in the bottom of the sinking pit working with Robert Read and they were striking a punch wedging the floor. George heard George Terry cry out “Look up she’s coming in”, and saw the ground rising, and Samuel Wilmot say “it’s the water”. He saw the water coming in. It was gradual at first until it got a vent opened and the it rushed in. He climbed on the rings of the brickwork and then up the bell line, when the water drove men above the rings and saw the rope in the middle of the shaft and swung across to it and was drawn up.

James Scott, who had worked in the mines of the North of England most of his life, said the shaft was perfectly dry when they went down that night of the accident and we saw no sign of water for two hours. One bore-hole tested by the master sinker which came up dry, about three-quarters of an hour before the accident.

George Holder said:

I am the foreman or master sinker. I went down the pit at 9.15 p.m. on the night of the accident and inspected the bottom of the pit all over. I had 14 men under my charge in the pit. I made a careful inspection and there were no signs of water. I relieved William Wigman, fellow master sinker. He told me that all was right, that one hole was a bit damp and he had dried it out. There were three boreholes in different parts of the bottom. I examined the two nearest to where they say the water first came in with a scraper which was in the hole at the time. The hole was about four feet nine inches deep. It was bored to the hard rock. I tested this about 9.20 p.m. I went up about 10.20 p.m. intending to take a jumper drill down to drill a shot hole, the ground was so hard. I was just about to go down about five minutes to eleven when the men shouted and cried out. I could hear the rush of water and see some lights. I helped to send the hoppet down, the rope slackened and I heard a cry “Go on”. I shouted to the engineman to up to the top when it came up there were three men brought out. The hoppet was sent down again with a flaming lamp attached and this was put out when the hoppet was lowered into the water. On being drawn up three more men were brought out they were exhausted. Then John Little volunteered to go down with me. We were lowered to the water. It was thick with sand we remained long enough to rescue anyone but there were none to rescue. I could not see the end of the air pipe which was 70 to 80 feet from the bottom. The water must have risen that height in about ten minutes. George Fisher was in charge of the pit top as banksman he said nothing to me about any hoppet coming up containing a little water. There were partings in the strata which inclined in a North-Easterly direction. If here was nay “bleeding” it would be from the partings between the layers of the strata. I saw none. We had bored 17 feet 6 inches in advance of the bottom before getting to the hard rock, never less than 15 feet. It never entered my mind that the water would burst through hard rock. When sunk the Brady Pit we had a trickle of water below the hard rock. We sunk 60 feet below it, the water increasing until we were drawing only water and then we stopped. For the last 12 years I have been engaged in sinking in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Wales. I left the colliery the same day at 2 p.m. when William Wigman took charge up to 9 p.m. I had charge from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. The last shots that were fired prior to the accident were fired at about 12 noon; three shots, 3 feet 9 or 4 feet deep, they were sumping shots.

During sinking operations, it was the usual practice to keep boreholes in advance of the bottom of the shaft, to gain information of the ground that was below. Alexander Reid, certificated manager told the inquiry:

I have had charge since the commencement of these sinkings about July 1896. The No.1 shaft or Brady Pit reached a depth of 366 feet 6 inches. The No.2 shaft or Simpson Pit is 138 feet 8 inches eastwards of No.1 centre to centre. This shaft was 303 feet deep when the accident occurred. Further to the east, 143 feet 4 inches, is the experimental borehole, it goes down about 2,300 feet. The shafts and borehole are in a line. Water stood in the borehole about 40 feet from the surface and about the same in No.1 pit. At the resent time the water in the borehole is about the same level as in the shafts. Yesterday it was about 180 feet from the surface. On the 6th of March I was down the No.2 pit twice, the second time a little after one o’clock. I examined the pit bottom very minutely. There were no signs of water whatever; I had been told by the chargeman that a layer of iron pyrites had been found three inches thick. I knew this was the base of the gault. We had it in No.1 pit. Below this pyrites was sandy clay and then a bed of hard rock. We had proved it by three boreholes, equidistant, in the form of a triangle.

At one o’clock we were six feet from the rock. They had sunk 2 feet in ten hours following. I was especially on the lookout for water and the strata over the hard rock being of a slightly sandy nature, had any water percolated from the No.1 pit it should have shown in the boreholes and when we entered it. Our intention was if the water had shown itself in these boreholes, to plug them and suspend the sinking for a time. We had discussed it. We started boring 20 feet from the hard rock. My instructions were perfectly clear that on the first sign of water the men were to be withdrawn. There was no sign of water that I was notified of until a few minutes prior to the accident. The hard green-sand rock in the No.1 Pit was three feet thick. I heard of the accident when in bed at home at 11.15 p.m. by telephone. I got to the colliery at 11.50 p.m. and went down the shaft with the chargeman at 12.15 the water was 174 feet from the surface showing a depth of 29 feet. It is quite certain that the water came in at the bottom of the No. 2 pit. In the No.1 pit it percolated in but in the No.2 pit it burst in suddenly. I attribute it either to a direct upwards pressure on an exposed area of a portion of the rock underlying the bottom of the pit, or to a fault in the rock. To break that strong rock there must have been a tremendous pressure on it, and to get the pressure on the rock you must have a large exposed area, acted on by water. When we sunk through the hard rock in the No.1 pit there was no water I telegraphed to London that we had gone through rock and there was no water. The men were standing on the sand and it was perfectly dry, after going a foot water percolated through we carried the shaft 60 feet below the hard rock, the quantity of water gradually increasing until it became so much that we could only wind water and we stopped. For some time we drew water by barrel, allowing a certain quantity for lodgement. Then we allowed the water to rise 40 feet from the surface. An hour and a half after the accident the water in the No.1 shaft had lowered from 40 feet to 167 feet. The difference had gone to the No.2 pit. It there had been an upwards pressure independent of No.1 pit to given the No.2 pit the first heave, then the No.1 pit water flowed. We never assumed the possibility of a cavity under the rock. There was no secret about it. The matter was discussed with the chargemen and everyone. In fact, when we put down the three boreholes, the chargemen were so confident, they thought one was sufficient. we had no anticipation of danger. If water had been found in the boreholes they would have been plugged up it was the wish to have the No.2 pit dry. The temperature of the water averaged 72 degrees Fahrenheit. This was due to the face that the water came from either a great depth or from chemical action. I think it was the former. When Wilmot, the temporary chargeman, saw the little water bleeding from the strata he ought to have shouted up the pit to Holder the chargeman. That warning, if taken notice of, might have saved the men.

The jury brought in the following verdict:

Accidental death by drowning whilst working in the Simpson Pit on the 6th March the inrush of water having, in the first instance, come from the borehole, and that thereupon the water from the Brady Pit sought its level by entering the Simpson Pit.

They added their opinion that it would have been better to clear the Brady pit of water before starting the Simpson Pit also that the conduct of John Little, one of the rescued, in descending the pit in an endeavour to rescue others, was deserving of great praise.

Production from the Dover shaft of the colliery was commenced in 1912 and the colliery ceased production in 1915 due to flooding.

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report
The Colliery Guardian, 12th March 1895, p.499, 19th March, p.543, 15th April, p.732, 3rd April, p.775.

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