The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-02-02 00:00:00

FATAL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

A terrible colliery explosion occurred on Sunday
morning at Penygraig, in the Rhondda Valley. The
explosion took place at the Naval Steam Colliery,
where a disastrous explosion occurred a few years
ago. The explosion happened immediately after the
descent of the Sunday morning repairing shift.
The colliery is situated within a distance of seven
miles from Pontypridd, and the downcast shaft is
close to the Taff Vale Railway Station at Pandy.
The upcast shaft is in the Ely Valley, a short
distance away, About 550 men are employed in
the colliery, and work in day and night shifts.
The day shift numbers 350 men, so that had the
explosion occurred on any ordinary day the con-
sequences would have been terrible in the extreme. As
it is, however, the consequences are serious, and
r,everal families have been thrown into the profoundest
grief through the loss of their breadwinners. The col-
liery is known to be a fiery one, and the lights at the
pit-top are actually supplied by a blower which is
tapped with pipes. The pipes were emashed by
the explosion and the lights were aztinguished, Tire
colliery is worked with safety lamps. Toe ventilation
is worked by a fan, which hss been damaged by the
explosion, so that the ventilation is exceedingly weak,
if not at a stand still.
The firemen descended the pit on Sunday at half-
past five o'clock, and the day repairing shift went into
the pit half an hour or so afterwards, betore the
return of the firemen, so that there were in all eleven
men in the colliery. About twenty minutes to seven
o'clock a fearful report was heard and a tremendous
concussion was felt, not only at the pit top, but at
Penygraig and other places in the neighbourhood.
The force of the concussion was buch that a child
was thrown out of bed by it some half-mile away.
Upon inspection it was seen that the downcast shaft
was torn up, the trams blown about, and one of the
guide ropes twisted round the carriage so that it
was impossible to take the carriage to the pit
bottom for hours afterwards, There was immediately
a rush of people to the scene. Upon inquiry it was
ascertained that Thomas Davies, known as "Double
Power," owing to his gigantic physical strength, who
had been working one turn and had gone home for
good, returned to the pit and could not have gone
further than the colliery stables before the explosion
occurred. Davies was a •contractor in the mine.
Among the men at the upcast shaft was the farrier or
master of haulers, Solomon Edwards, who had only
just reached the shaft bottom before the terrible
reporti was heard, John Hey cock, the fireman at the top
of the fault had on this occasion, as was his practice on
Sundays, taken a son with him upon his rounds. The
lad had gone to spare his brother who was unwell,
and thus lost his life.
The first colliery manager to come upon the scene
was Mr. Daniel 'Thomas, of Dinar, Immediately he
set to work with the people who gathered round to
set things to rights at the ton in order to make an
effort to descend the shaft. With the fan at stand-
still a descent from the upcast was out of the
question, so as soon as the carriage could be got at
properly, Mr. Thomas and a few men entered, and
the cage was very slowly lowered, Before it had
gone far, however, the twisted guide prevented
further descent. One exploring party went into
the other carriage and were lowered in it. By about
eleven o'clock the bottom was reached and some direc-
tions were shouted by those below, Mr. Edmund
Thomas, Maindy-hall, a manager of experience, and
one of the former proprietors of Gelli Colliery, had by
this time come to the pit top. He assisted in organiz-
ing another gang to go down. The explorers travelled
some distance in the colliery, finding the doors
damaged or blown down, and some falls. Great excite-
ment prevailed above ground owing to the length of
time the exploring party was down. The lifeless
bodies of two of the cstlers were subsequently brought
to the bottom of the shaft, and a report then ob-
tained currency that Mr. Daniel Thomas was miss-
ing. This intensified the agitation. The pit carriage
was brought up, and the moment the explorers were
seen there was a great rush towards them. John
Jones, a member of the party, was completely
prostrated. He said that Mr. Thomas, Mr. Thomas
Lewis, the under-manager, and Mr. Edward Watkins
had gone along the euriace by the return airway till
they came to a "fault." Jones felt weak and shouted
to his companions that he was returning. He had no
doubt, from what he saw, that Mr. Thomas and the
other two were suffocated. The party had traversed
the workings a distance of 800 yards from the pit
bottom.
The following is a list of the killed. It does not,
however, include the two explorers: Solomon Ed-
wards, 30, married, with children; James Seville, 50,
ostler, married, with children; Oliver John, fireman;
David Jones, fireman; John Price, fireman; William
Williams, fireman; John Haycock, senior, and John
Heycock, junior; Thomas Davies, contractor; Wil-
liam Augustus ostler; and Frederick Nugent, ostler.
The effects of the explosion on the top of the upcast
were heavy. The fan-house was wrecked, and the
gaseous hurricane carried off the wooden roof; the
boiler debris was hurled away 10 or 15 yards, and the
bricks were squeezed into the spools of the fan. The
engine-house was badly damaged, as was also the pit-
top timber. The pit cage was smashed.