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Full Details

Surname
FIELD
Forename
John Henry
Day
21
Month
03
Year
1908
Age
51
Occupation
Stoneman
Mine/Quarry Name
Dawdon
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Londonderry Collieries Ltd
Location
Seaham Harbour
County
Durham
Details of Event
The Hutton Seam was being opened out and a scaffold had been put in the shaft at that level. The sump was some 17 fathoms deeper, and in order to draw water from it, a hole was left in the scaffold to admit of the passing of a water tub. When water was not being drawn the hole in the scaffold was covered up and the men in the Hutton Seam had free access to the scaffold. When the hole was open a fence consisting of a chain was put up on the east side and no one unless told to do so had any right to go beyond it. At 5am on March 21, Field and three other men came out to the shaft to ride and remained on the inbye side of the fence till called to by the onsetter, who was at one side of the kibble and his marrow on the other, holding it in a position for the men to get in. One man got in, two others were following and awaiting their turn, when Field for some reason went round behind the assistant onsetter's back and slipped through the hole in the scaffold. He struck his head in falling and was stunned, and then drowned in the sump. He knew the pit well. Neither of the men saw him until he was falling.