PRINCE OF WALES. Abercarne, Monmouthshire. 11th. September, 1878.

The colliery was about 12 miles from Newport in Monmouthshire and the property of the Ebbw Vale Company one of the largest coal and iron proprietors in South Wales. It was situated about a few hundred yards from the Abercarne Station in the Western Valley Section of the Monmouthshire Railway and worked the Black-vein Seam used in the Royal Mail Company’s service and was esteemed as one of the best coals for foreign service. It lay between two well-wooded mountains Cwncarne in the east and Mynyddlesllyn in the west which rose to almost one thousand feet and produced about 1000 tons per day and about one thousand colliers were employed in three shifts.

The colliery was first sunk in 1837 and several attempts had been made to make it profitable but all had failed. The Ebbw Vale Company took over the colliery in 1859 and after introducing new machinery, the machinery from the winding and pumping was of the most perfect type and the mine was worked with locked lamps.  The Black Vein Seam was struck in 1863. The present shaft was sunk in 1862 and on account of the marriage of the Prince of Wales it was named the Prince of Wales colliery and from that date, the old shaft was abandoned and was used for ventilation.

The company has been free from accidents and it was considered that no human foresight could have prevented this one. The pit was worked on the pillar and stall method and it was only four months before the explosion that a downcast air shaft had been completed in the Cwyncumer at a cost of £60,000. It increased the airflow from 90,000 to 150,000 cubic feet per hour at a depth of 268 yards. A 1,000-yard drift was then made to connect it to the old workings.

The men descended the mine at Abercarne and rode an engine a mile east to the Black Vein seam in which the explosion occurred killing two hundred and sixty-seven men and boys. The shaft descended at about 1 in 5 in a straight line. The shift entered the pit at 6 a.m. and should have left at 2 p.m. and there were about 350 men and boys in the shift. The explosion occurred at 10 minutes past 12 with a loud rumbling sound, a flash of flame and a column of black smoke ascending high into the air. The winding cage was damaged and communication with the pit bottom was destroyed but work was quickly done and a party was sent down. Approaches were made through the No.1 Pit which had been recently constructed at Cwmearn three miles distant. By these means, it was concluded that the explosion had been general throughout the pit but there were no general indications of a particular spot where it occurred.

Eighty-two men and boys who had been working near the shaft were brought out alive but the efforts to get into the workings proved that there was little hope for them. Four yards from the pit bottom were the stables and fourteen horses were found all dead but beyond this, the afterdamp was too strong. The first party brought out twelve men who were terribly burnt and found seven bodies that were brought to the pit bank. Of the seven dead that had been brought out of the pit, four had been identified one was the overman, Rees and three other men who had been employed in the roadways. Two men named Jenkins and Jones had been brought out alive but they died soon after from their serious injuries burns and the effects of the afterdamp. Three hundred and seventy men took lamps on the morning and a hundred had been accounted for including the dead leaving a possible two hundred and seventy dead. Dr. Rowbottom and his sons and other surgeons from the district were in attendance and gave all the aid within their power.

Mr. Cadman, the Inspector and his assistant inspector, Mr. Donald Bain, were in the vicinity of the colliery at the time and they hurried to the stricken pit. They conferred with Mr. Pond, the general manager of the colliery, and other mining engineers that speedily arrived from other collieries. Mr. Cadman descended the pit about an hour after the explosion with a party of volunteers which included Miles Mosley, Harris and Simmons. At the bottom of the shaft, they found that timber and coal had caught fire and there was at least one fire some distance from the pit bottom. The roof had fallen heavily and many of the workings were filled with gas. Everything was done to extinguish the fires and get into the workings. The explorers were down the pit for five to six hours but were beaten back by gas and fire on all sides and there was no hope for anyone that was left alive in the colliery. The dilemma was of the most painful nature and the anxious crowds on the pit bank waited for their decision. There was still communication with the pit bottom and a little distance beyond this. The conference of mining engineers came to the conclusion that the mine should be flooded. The mine was flooded from the Monmouth canal with wooden shutters and fifteen-inch pipes to the pit mouth and water run into the pit. The canal was on the upper side of the colliery and was separated by a wall three feet thick and the task of opening the wall was speedily accomplished. It took months before the pit was reopened and until then there was no hope of reaching the bodies.

The explosion caused national interest and letters appeared in the press. This was a letter to the Editor of “The Colliery Guardian”:

Sir,

Again there is a fearful loss of life caused by another explosion. No class of men, I am sure, regret these occurrences more than do mine managers and mining engineers. I have no intentions of saying anything as to how this accident took place. All discussion before the verdict of the jury is known should be avoided but what I do wish to do is, to say a few words upon the advisability of flooding a colliery to extinguish a fire.

It is well known that water is a great enemy of fire, and the face of things, it seems when brooks or canals are near at hand, flooding the mine is the most easy, certain and most inexpensive method. I have not enquired into the nature of the “floor” and “roof” at Abercarne colliery and I am but little aquatinted with the South Wales coalfield, so I am ignorant of the damage that might be caused by flooding the workings. Many of your readers, however, might remember, after an explosion at one large colliery, the destruction caused by the water (which had been previously pumped) running into deep workings.

If continued long enough, water as now turned into the shaft at Abercarne must extinguish fire in deep workings. The questions uppermost in my mind are:

(1) Are all the workings to the deep of the shaft?

(2) What is the nature of the “roof” and the “floor”?

(3) Has the great delay in re-opening the works and recovering the bodies of the men, and also the cost entailed by the present process, been taken into account?

No doubt the manager had the advice from the Inspector and others, who have held council together, but it is still the question of an underground fire, no matter what its extent, may not be put out as effectively by other means that drowning the mine and, if so, can the workings be opened as so or sooner? The time taken to extinguish a fire by water can easily be calculated but not so that required to pump the water back from the shafts and workings, and unless there be an exceptionally good roof, the falling in of the roads and working is very large.

It was proved in the Oaks in 1866 that if the whole of the colliery had been flooded, a portion of its deep workings were, nine-tenths of the works never have been re-opened or the bodies recovered. Indeed this had not been done in the extreme deep to this day, the bodies remaining where they fell in 1866. In case of fire, the best thing I hold to be done is to seal hermetically all the entrances to the mine.

The colliery just mentioned was on fire in several places. No less than seventeen explosions took place, some of which were of terrific violence. Instead of turning water (which was within 150 yards of the pit mouth, two of the shafts, the upcast and the down cast, were filled with rubbish for 100 yards, after which clay was thrown down, and proved to have made the shaft air-tight by water accumulating on the top. The third shaft, No.2, was left open for several days, after which a large scaffold, made to fit the shaft and constructed of oak and iron, was lowered down for 100 yards. Into the scaffold an escape pipe 10 inches in diameter was fitted and on this bough of trees were thrown, and on these clay again on the top, and lastly, water, to thoroughly seal the shaft. Thermometers were from time to time lowered down the shaft to test the temperature, and an anemometer was also used to measure the escaping gas. These were the means take to extinguish the fires at the Oaks colliery. The effect is well known, as no signs of fire were seen at the re-opening. I do not know if the workings of this colliery were of a less extent than those of Abrercarne, but places were found where three-quarters of a mile from the shafts coal had been burnt and coked five feet into the sold sides. The above proves what can be done to put out fires without water, and so guard against the roof being washed down and burying the bodies in the mine.

That is still the question of which should be the method used to extinguish such fires in proved by the caution taken in the present disaster, though the experience gained at the Oaks points to the method of choking as the best suited for an underground fire.

Yours &c.,

GEO. BARKER

Bedworth, 17th September 1878.

At the time of the explosion, there were three hundred and fifty men below ground and almost one hundred came out of the pit alive. Of the two hundred and fifty-seven that were killed, one hundred and thirty-one were married, sixty-seven single, fifty-nine were boys under eighteen years of age and four were widowers.

Those who lost their lives were:

The colliers from No. 21 District who were killed:

  • James Lovell
  • William Lagg
  • William Lewis
  • Edwin Davies
  • Thomas Davies
  • Henry Davies
  • Henry Owens
  • George Abrams
  • John Lee.
  • James Hancock
  • George Watts
  • John Coker
  • Thomas Morgan
  • John Evans
  • Thomas Evans
  • John Rowe
  • Thomas Williams
  • Solomon Jones
  • Jonathan Williams
  • Benjamin Coward
  • William James
  • John Hodges
  • John Hodges jnr.
  • George Giles Coombs
  • Griffith England
  • William Downs
  • John Everett
  • James Whatley
  • Frederick Dole
  • Thomas Nelmes
  • Charles Nelmes
  • Henry Quick
  • James Quick
  • George Osborne
  • Thomas Jones
  • Isaac Watts
  • John Matthews
  • George Evans
  • Thomas Ashman.
  • George Eatwell
  • William Hooper
  • George Sheppard
  • Robert Osborne
  • Henry Cartwright
  • Herbert Cartwright
  • William Morgan
  • James Griffiths
  • Henry Cooksley.
  • William Jones
  • John Macarty
  • Thomas Smith
  • John Williams
  • Joseph Clifford
  • William Clifford
  • William Arnold
  • William Preece
  • David Thomas
  • Thomas Phillips
  • Richard Stephens
  • John Stephens
  • Isaac Williams
  • William Henry Davies
  • William Games
  • Joseph Railton
  • Henry Gillingham
  • Frederick Stephens
  • George Meredith
  • Henry Meredith
  • Frederick Chin
  • George Oxford
  • Henry Williams
  • Oliver Hibbs
  • Edwin Evans
  • Joseph Moore
  • John Chapman
  • James Price
  • Henry Downs
  • William Terrill
  • Job Webb
  • Thomas Webb
  • Henry Knight
  • Thomas Williams
  • Charles Jones
  • Thomas Franklin
  • William Symonds
  • William Henry Symonds
  • Samuel Moreton
  • Isaac Bath.
  • John Carter
  • Frederick Chaddick
  • Thomas Henry Symmonds
  • John Evans.
  • Silas Smith.
  • James Smith.

The hauliers who were killed in the No 21 District:

  • Michael Regan
  • John Regan
  • Thomas Phillips 1st.
  • David Evans
  • William Phillips 1st.
  • William Phillips 2nd.
  • William Jones 1st.
  • William Jones 2nd.
  • Thomas Davies
  • George Gleade
  • William Jenkin Thomas
  • William Allen
  • Gilbert Gleade.

Other dead from the 21 District:

  • Joseph Gay, overman.
  • Henry Terrill, fireman.
  • William Young, roadman.
  • John Cridland, lampman.
  • William Whatley, labourer.
  • William Williams, labourer.
  • John Beard, labourer.
  • John Bakerton, shackler.
  • George Brooks, shackler.
  • Thomas Watkins, shackler.
  • Albert Wilcox, rope connector.
  • George Payne, light carrier.
  • William Lewis, master haulier.
  • Samuel Powell, sweeper.
  • Henry Nicholas, sweeper.
  • Alfred Webb, sweeper.
  • Richard Abram, door boy.
  • Frank Whatley, door boy.
  • Samuel Terrill, door boy.
  • Thomas Phillips 2nd., door boy.
  • Elihu Gay, door boy.
  • Edwin Williams, door boy.
  • Gwyllym Evans, rope connector.
  • William Terrill, rope connector.
  • Sydney Watkins, sweeper.

The colliers killed in the 17 District:

  • John Games
  • Reece Howells
  • William Edwards
  • Thomas Tyler
  • William Rogers
  • Henry Sanders
  • David Beachy
  • David Thomas
  • Thomas Lewis
  • David Davies
  • Thomas Palmer
  • William Palmer
  • William Morgan
  • Charles Greenland
  • George Lloyd
  • Charles Baker
  • John Franks
  • Thomas Noot
  • Thomas Noot jnr.
  • Frederick Carlton
  • Lewis James
  • George Hillburn
  • William Hillburn
  • John Jenkins
  • John Reynolds
  • Augustus Thomas
  • David Thomas
  • Thomas Abrahams
  • George Abrahams
  • Henry Portray
  • Edmond Jones
  • Thomas Waters
  • Henry Watts
  • Alfred Davies
  • John Williams
  • Edward Williams
  • George Coles
  • Arthur Harris
  • William Marshall
  • Charles Moore
  • Elias Nicholas
  • James Poelry
  • Richard Williams
  • Aaron Winters.

Hauliers dead from the 17 District:

  • William Harlowe
  • James Davies
  • Henry Budd
  • William Carter
  • David Rees
  • David Griffiths
  • John Lewis.

Other dead from the 17 District:

  • Edwin Bethel, underviewer.
  • David Rees, overman.
  • Thomas Phillips, fireman.
  • John Lewis, master haulier.
  • David Jones, master haulier.
  • Albert Watkins, roadman.
  • William Brown, light carrier.
  • William Meyrick, shackler.
  • Henry Waters, shackler.
  • Robert Noot, door boy.
  • Henry Charles Jennings, door boy.
  • Albert John Symonds, door boy.
  • John Harris, door boy.
  • Israel Lewis, repairer.
  • John Davies, repairer.
  • William Stone, repairer.
  • Jacob Williams, repairer
  • Joseph Lewis, repairer.

Colliers killed in the 4 District.

  • Joseph Jones
  • Daniel Williams
  • William Williams
  • John Matthews
  • Joseph Lewis
  • Rowland James
  • Edmund Williams
  • John Colley
  • William Colley
  • Thomas Wilks
  • David Anthony
  • Thomas Walters
  • Thomas Walters jnr.
  • Daniel Williams
  • Alfred Wells
  • John Rees
  • John Havard
  • Richard Sanders
  • Morgan Bowden
  • Thomas Rogers
  • John Newbury
  • William Howells.

Other dead from the 4 District:

  • James Harris, fireman.
  • William Davies, master haulier.
  • William Davies jnr., haulier
  • John Edwards, haulier.
  • John Williams,haulier.
  • John Daniel, haulier.
  • Joseph Hooper, haulier.
  • David Davies, shackler.
  • Isaac Matthews, labourer.
  • William Snellgrove, labourer.
  • Thomas Williams, repairer.
  • Isaac Sheppard, repairer.
  • James Brown, repairer.
  • Edward Symonds, repairer.
  • Thomas Haycock, repairer.
  • Found dead at the pit bottom:
  • Joseph Jordan, foreman.
  • Benjamin Games, engineman.
  • Henry Golding, hitcher.
  • Nathaniel Jones, hitcher.
  • William Hopper, hitcher.
  • John Beak, hitcher.
  • Edward Jenkins, haulier.
  • Henry Powell, haulier.
  • James Payne, haulier.
  • John Gough, haulier.
  • Thomas Phillips, ostler.
  • Richard Richards, ostler.
  • John Hall, ostler.
  • Charles Nicholas, ostler.
  • Joseph Cains, lampman.
  • John Regan, oiling.
  • Charles Cudland, dickey rider.
  • William Williams, light carrier.
  • William John Williams, haulier.
  • John Edwards, collier and
  • Isaac Madley, haulier, from the 22 District were also killed

Those who survived:

  • Colliers from the 17 District:
  • Hezekiah Harvey
  • Harvey
  • Thomas Games
  • Solomon Morgan
  • Israel Bateman
  • David Lewis
  • Samuel Toplass
  • Francis Morgan
  • Morgan
  • Thomas Williams
  • Williams
  • John Lavender
  • Seth Sheppard
  • Charles Roberts
  • William Gerrish
  • Thomas Smith
  • Alford Davies.
  • Thomas Bryan.

Colliers from the 2 District:

  • William Prosser
  • John Cook
  • George Carter
  • Thomas James
  • William Pritchard
  • Thomas Gooding
  • George Lewis
  • Jonah Jones
  • W.H. Jones
  • John Fletcher
  • John Knight
  • William Dobbs
  • John Baker
  • James Speed
  • James Nicholas
  • John Davis
  • George Moon
  • William Anthony
  • Thomas Meredith
  • William Davies
  • Matthew Morgan
  • John Morgan
  • John Owens
  • Thomas Powell
  • John Davies
  • William Davies
  • Thomas Eatwell
  • Anthony Dew
  • John West
  • William West
  • Henry Lewis
  • James Bassett
  • John Sweet
  • John Jones
  • Joseph George
  • Thomas Waters
  • William Jenkins
  • Morgan Morgans
  • Thomas Allsop
  • Allsop
  • William Williams
  • John Williams
  • Richard Edwards
  • John Evans
  • Lemuel Charles
  • Daniel Jones
  • Henry Carter
  • William Jones
  • James Absolom
  • David Absolom
  • Thomas Jones
  • Emmanuel Sheppard
  • John Evans.

Others saved from the 2 District:

  • George Ashman, master haulier.
  • William Davies, haulier.
  • Edward Haycock, haulier.
  • Richard Williams, dickey rider.
  • Michael Richards, repairer.
  • David Davies, repairer.
  • William Mansfield, mason.
  • Charles Mansfield (boy), mason
  • John Morgan, door boy.
  • Thomas Osborne, oiling.
  • John Jordan, engineman at the pit bottom.

Of those who were saved from the pit, all got out alive came from the No.2 District but no one came out of any of the other districts.

The victims left one hundred and thirty-one widows, three hundred and sixty-three children fatherless, eight parents and sixteen brothers, a total of five hundred and nineteen dependant persons. At the time it was calculated that at 5/- per week it would cost £6,747 per annum to give them relief. There was a public subscription by the Lord Mayor of London which raised £400.

The inquest was opened in Abercarne by the Coroner Mr. W.H. Brewer on the nominally on the body of John Hall, aged 35 years, who let a widow and six children inquest was adjourned.

Repairs were commenced as soon as they got to the pit bottom and everything was done to reach the bodies. Work went on day and night to clear the airways but the Ebbw Vale Company had to stop for lack of funds but the pump was kept running to prevent the mine filling with water. The No.4 Donkey Road engine plane was cleared for five hundred and forty yards and the 21st District was thought to be the seat of the explosion.

At the resumed inquest many of the witnesses spoke of gas in the No.4 district on Friday to Monday previous to the explosion. A squeeze in the roof and falls had occurred and gas had been found. Prompt measures were taken to make the place safe and before Wednesday, the day of the explosion it was thought that the place had been made safe. The pit was known to be a fiery pit and the 21st District was the warmest part of the mine. Gas had been found before and the men had been withdrawn while the gas had been cleared by the officials.

The mine was worked by the double stall and the openings in the coal were sixteen yards apart, taking each road one on each side. The space between the roads was sometimes only partially filled but when these had been driven for sixty yards the opening was tightly filled and packed up. This system of working was changed to longwall working which got all the coal except for three feet which were left for the roof. It was thought that there would be less space needed and that the ventilation would be improved by using this method. Some of the longwall places were not filled and this gave spaces in the waste in which gas could accumulate.

The mine was managed by a resident, certificated manager and another certificated manager for the general supervision for all the mines, visiting them and checking with the managers. Mr. Peter Higson, a mining engineer of Manchester, acted as a consulting engineer and visited the colliery each month.

A few years before the explosion the ventilation was not considered satisfactory and it was decided to sink a third shaft. This was done and the communication road to the workings was completed in April before the explosion. The pit was two hundred and fifty yards deep and twenty feet in diameter and was called the Cwmarn pit. In Mr. Higson’s opinion, it would have been better if the shaft had been used as an upcast shaft but the engineers at the colliery decided to make it the downcast and take air that would mix with the other downcast, go through the workings and then go up the upcast shaft. To make it an upcast would have been increased costs. After the work had been completed it was noticed that the 21st. District, which was the furthest away and the most difficult to ventilate was hot.

Mr. Higson inspected the pit was in March and he did not find any gas and all was in good order. His last inspection was on the 21st of August, one month before the explosion when he stated that it was the best he had ever seen.

Inspector thought that for one shift to get coal and for another to follow on in a fiery mine, meant that there was not enough time for the officials to inspect the mine after the first shift had left and the second came to work but there were enough officials to inspect the workings two or three times during the shift.

Gas had been found in the 21st. District but it was reported free from gas on the morning of the explosion. The District had not been inspected since the explosion as the mine had not been re-opened. The Inspector, Mr, Cadman, thought that the gas could have fired at one of the so-called safety lamps that were used in Monmouth and South Wales. There was one lamp station at the bottom of the shaft and only locked lamps were used in the mine. A defective lamp had been found in the 21st District and the explosion could have been fed by dust.

The mine was dusty and hot and blasting was strictly prohibited in the Welsh Steam Coal mine. There had been a history of outbursts of gas and the managers believed that this had caused this explosion.

The Inspector thought that the ventilation had been deranged which had allowed air to pass into the return airways before passing through the faces and there had been an accumulation of gas.

The inquest was continued last Friday into the explosion when the witnesses, Rees, Harris and Lovell were examined. Harris was a mason and acted heroically and rendered substantial help before he left the colliery.

Elijah Lewis, a fireman who worked in the Nos.4 and 17 districts, said that he came up the No.6 pit at 5 in the morning of the day of the explosion. He had reported in his book:

I beg to state that the whole of the workings in Nos.4 and 17 are free from gas and that there were falls on September 11th.

Henry Lewis who was a fireman admitted that he found unlocked lamps in the pit and had seen men with pipes and tobacco in their possession but had never found matches on them.

In 1900, the workings were opened with a view to continuing mining operations. It was found that the air was foul but one body was discovered. There was an inquest on but the body was not identified.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report, 1878.
Colliery Guardian, 13th September 1878, p.423, 20th September, p.464, 20th September, p.467, 28th October, p.673, 10th January 1879, p. 64, 17th January 1879, p.103, 24th January 1879, p. 142, 31st January 1879, p. 187, 22nd August 1879, p.296, 25th January 1900, p.889, 17th February 1905, p.299, 12th May, p.779.
”And they worked us to death” Vol.1. Ben Fieldhouse and Jackie Dunn. Gwent Family History Society.

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

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