New Search

Return to Search Results

Full Details

Surname
ROBSON
Forename
John
Day
19
Month
04
Year
1906
Age
34
Occupation
Sinker
Mine/Quarry Name
Barrington
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Bedlington Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Bedlington
County
Northumberland
Details of Event
A pit, 8 feet in diameter and 92.5 fathoms to the Low Main seam, was being deepened, with a diameter of 12 feet, to prove the lower seams and had reached a depth of o6 fathoms below the Low Main seam. Electric light was provided in the bottom. Phoenix gelignite was the explosive used with No.7 low tension detonators, which it was stated were tested before use. The shots were fired in series by a low tension Julius Smith igniting Dynamo, made by Davis, of Derby. At 2.40pm. on the day of the accident a round of 9 shots, the holes being from 8 feet to 4 feet deep and charged with from 2 to 5 pellets of the explosive with a primer containing the detonator on top, was fired and while the succeeding shift of 7 sinkers, including a chargeman were engaged in the bottom shortly after 6pm., an explosion of derelict gelignite took place, killing deceased, seriously injuring two of the others and slightly injuring the remainder. The chargeman who fired the round at 2.50pm. examined the shaft bottom directly afterwards and was satisfied all the shots had exploded. Near where deceased was working, holding a poirit, struck by one of the sinkers, who was seriously injured, was the socket of an old hole. Whether some explosive had not been detonated and left in this socket or whether one of the round of holes fired at 2.50pm had in some way failed to explode could not he determined. The explosive was said to be in a soft condition and the temperature of the water in the pit bottom was 62 degrees F