Single Record

Full Details

Surname

KNOX

Forename

William

Day

12

Month

02

Year

1900

Age

36

Occupation

Oncostman

Mine/Quarry Name

Carbarns

Mineral Worked

Coal

Owner

William Hudspith & Co.

Location

Wishaw

County

Lanarkshire

Details of Event

A section of Ell Coal had been reached by a stone mine driven upwards from the Main Coal, and a place had been driven in the Ell Coal to a small blind-pit put up from the Main Coal on the vees of a trouble so as to provide two airways. While driving the stone mine and the place in the Ell Coal, a current of air was carried forward by brattice, but the current was so feeble that when driving in the Ell Coal it had to be assisted by means of a hand fan and wood rhones or air boxes. Some trouble had been experienced with fire damp in the Ell Coal. The connection with the blind pit had been completed before the accident, but notwithstanding this, on the day of the accident gas was found in the Ell Coal, and no miners were allowed to work in it. The three deceased, and another man, who was injured, were engaged trying to remove the gas. The injured man was working the hand fan and the fireman had gone forward with a Davy safety lamp to see if the connection with the blind pit was open, and the manager and oversman were near the foot of the stone mine, when a somewhat violent explosion occurred, coming from where the fireman was. The fireman's body was found near the blind pit, and the bottom of his safety lamp was found some yards further out. The gauze was not found. The place in the Ell Coal was dry and rather dusty. From Main body of report: The Carbarns Colliery explosion was primarily due to insufficient ventilation, the return air way was of inadequate size, and considerable leakage took place from the intake air current owing to defective stoppings, the consequence was that although there was an efficient fan and a good intake air road very little air reached the-face, and what, I believe, was a comparatively limited issue of fire-damp could not be properly dealt with. A connection made with a blind pit a day or two before the accident had been expected to remedy matters, but this did not increase the feeble current, and fire-damp was found in considerable quantities on the day of the explosion, and the deceased men were engaged in its removal at the time of the accident-an operation which, I think, should have been left over until the ordinary workmen were out of the pit. One of the deceased, the fireman, went forward to near the top of the blind pit and the explosion came from him. He carried an ordinary Davy safety lamp and after the accident the safety lamp, minus the gauze, was found a few yards further out than his body. The gauze was not found, but was supposed to be under a large fall of roof, which took place after the explosion, near where the lamp was found. Explosion killed 4. Unmarried