The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-23 00:00:00

in ► pure and healthy state. It Warn 'la at hall past 9 o'clock,
when he 10t the colliery. [The explosion, it subsequently
appeared, took piece abut twenty minutes before 1 o'clock ]
Ha saw no appearance of gas when he lelt the colliery. He
considered it to be so well ventilated, as to be safe to work it
with ea dies, instead of the Davy lamp. The piimi n them
selves were opposed to work with Davy lam' s when they
thought they could lately work with candles. He had since
examined tie works, and he hail no doubt but the rxplo,inn
hail been oecasimed by a "blower." lie had seen a small
trifle of gas in the works before, but nothing to occasion any
alarm.

John R )binson, a titman, had seen nothing to CIL we any
'Lam. _ _

John Teesdale gave chillier evidence, but admitted that a
email explosion had taken place, which th. y had extin-
guished by waving their jvckets, to prevent it■ further
pregrese. Neither of thous n men had informed their
overman of thin appearance of the gas, and fur this they were
severely re rimaniteil hp the coroner.
Jame Dixon, a wood•layer, was in the plea where the
explosion took pl ore about twentytiva mmutes to firs it
occurred, and hail twice seen the pas ignited before he
left it. lie 11.411:: the bottom of the shaft when he heard
the exphaion.
Mr. Artnotrong, viewer,of Wingate Orange Colliery, said
he had vieited the w. redoes that gowning. lle thought
the ventilation extremely goad, and that it was per-
fectly safe t o work in the pit with naked candle,. He
was averse to employing tho safetylamp where there wag no
danger, as it only made the men moires and inatten-
tive vetoer* danger might at other times exist lie did not
think that the indi criminate um of the Dovy laMp tended
to security, but ra', er the contrary. In no ny work;ints toe
lamp would oi d he employed without invoking the laying
in of the works aluogether. Bleating e mld snot be carried
on without naked malice being use I; end without bleating,
some of the most valuable coals in the country cull not
be won.

Thomas Tongs and others gave testimony to the pure and
healthy state of the colliery.
Mr. John Wailes, viewer at the Iletton pit, gave it as hie
opinion that the explosion had been caused by a " blower"
at the piece alreals mentioned—that the ventilation in that
quarter was superior to that enjoyed by many large pits al
together—thin there was no ri mon to presume neglect, and
that eve'y atten'iou had been shown to the safety and corns
tortof the workmen.

Dlr. Potter, hlnwer e f the colliery, gave evidence as to the
ventilation, the substance of which atm., that there were
three shafts to this colliery, two of which were downcast,
and one an upcatit shalt, the I titer having a diameter of
sixteen feet. Into the part where the explosion had taken
place, upwards of 12,000 cubic fret of atm•Mpheric air were
transmitted every minute, and there were three main air-
ways, each of which was independt nt of the other, so that if
an explosion took pace in one part of the workings, there
wee a tree air-way to back by the others. He had examined
the workings the day be.ore the explosion, and found tall in
perfect working order.
Th:a was corrob :rate-1 by the viewers who had subse-
quently t xammed the work..
The coroner having brit fly summed up, the jury, without
hesitation, returned a verdict of " Accidental death,"

STORM AND LOSS OF LIFE OFF THE
EASr COAST OF SCOTLAND.

The following are further particulars of the Storm
off the coast of Pet. rhead, a notice of which appeared in our
paper yesterday. We are obliged for these details to the
editor of the Nfonelincen Journal. Oa Friday evening last,
this coast was visited by a hurricane, which, for intensity
while it hutted, and the lamentable destruction of life and
property which i: castled, is unequalled in the annals of the
coast of Scst!and. The lull extent of the loss o. casiont d
by this tsmific gale has rot been yet ascertained.
On the afternoon of that day, the weather was
moderate, and the fishing boats left the harbour
rather earlier that, usual, in consequence of the halt
bring a good way off the land, and at a Mug distance to the
southward. As the night wore on, the sky became over.
c. s', and altogether the weather began to assume a threat-
ening appearance. By ten o'clock, a strong gale from
S S E. had sprung up, accompanied with a drizzling rain,
whica continue d to gather strength gradually till midnight,
at which time, and till three o'clock on the following
morning, it blew a severe hurricane, the rain falling
in torrents. Owing to the intensity of the storm,
great fears were entertained for the safety of the fleet
of fishing boats and their craws which were at sea • and
groups of men and women wended their way from the dif-
ferent fishing villages in the vicinity to wh it h the boats be-
longed, anxious to aseertain the late of their friends and re-
latives, and eager to lend any aid which might be required
of them. In their anxiety to participate in the fishing, of
which the promise was most abundant, three
small yawls had gone to sea, manned with men and
boys; and for them the utmost fears were enter.
twined; but fortunate:y, alarmed at the state of the
weather, they had wisely left the fishing ground at an early
part of the night, and reached the harbour in safety by one
o'clock.. Shortly after that hour the boats began to arrive,
and were eagerly hailed by the spectators, who, satisfied of
their safety, were anxious to ascettain the condition of the
other vessels. By three o'clock about forty boats had
reached the harbour, though with great difficulty,
and with the less, in many canes, of part or whole of
their rets. When daylight broke, numbers of the flet
were seen at sea, evidently in di-tress, endeavouring to
reach the land ; and, as the sea ran tat meodously
high, the feelings of the spectators on shore were
wound up to an intense degree of excitement.
About four o'clock, a boat hove is sight, amongst the
breakers at Downie Point, without either sail or mast, and
driving at the mercy of the waves. A stna'l boat was
instantly 'manned to go to her assistance; and the brave
fellows were about to heave off the painter, when the owner
of the boat seized it, and, fearful of losing his property,
refused its use. We have no wish to speak harshly of the
conduct of any man; but we mast say, such cool con-
siderations of mere lucre, when the lives of his fellow.
creatures were at stake, was disgraceful to humanity, and
each as the public is happily unaccustomed to hear of British
se rues. Determined to make an effort to assist the vessel,
four men leaped into a salmon-coble, and with great difficulty
succeeded in reaching her, near the &when Rocks, at the
back of the Newtewn, lad in taking off the whole of the crew,
with the exception of one man, who refused to leave his
boat. The cubic, after pulling off a short distance, re-
turned, and the crew again intrested the man to come on
board ; but he refused. Just as they were leaving him, how-
ever, he seemed to have changed his resolution ; but before
they could again reach him, a heavy sea swarnp..d the boat,
and the unfortunate individual perished. His body was
found some hours after...anis near the Stake nets, at the
north side of the bay. He is named Robert Lees, and be-
longs to the village of Cowie. The coble, with its increnteed
crew, reached the harbour in safety. Dating the night two
boats, one belonging to Downie and another to Findon, ran
ashore at Castle Haven, a short way from Dunnuttar Castle.
The crews remained by their vessels as long as they ware
tenable, when they deserted them, and reached the shore
in safety. We are worry to sac that the crew of one of tl o
Portlethen boats fishing here, did net prove an fortunate.
Having missed this harbour, she ran northward, intending
to take the Cove of Nigg ; but, just when near its entrance,
a heavy Sea struck her and threw her upon the rocks, sweer-
big overboard one of the rut n, who unfortunate'y perished.
The rest of the crew, with the exception of the captain,
jumped upon the rocks, awl managed to escape; but it
appears that when the boat struck, the captain had been
thrown from his seat into the bottom of the vessel, when the
nets and fish, having been capsized, fell above him, and ren-
dered fruitless his efforts to extricate himself. He was found
dead in this situation a few hours afterwards. The
two men were brothers, and are named Joseph and
Alexander Craig. The former has left a widow and six
children, the lattet a widow and two children, to lament
the untimely fate of their husbands end fathers.
As the morning advanced the greater number of the boats
seen in the offing arrived in the harbour, numbering in all
about ninety tail. It was soon ascertained, however, that a
few boats belonging to this were missing,:concerniag which
great fears were entertained. During the day, however, in.
telligence arrived that they had safely gained the harbour of
Ab, rdeen, with the exception of one, whose fate remained
unknown. On Sunday afternoon, however, by the active
kindness of a correspondent, an express brought us the
paintsl intelligence that it had been cast ashore on the
beach near &rel.', and there is scarcely a shadow of hope
that the crew escaped a watery grave. There were four
men in it, as belonging to Stonehaven. By this melarcholy
catastrophe, three widows and nineteen children have been
deprived of their natural protectors, and thrown helplese
on the world. The above are the only cases in which
lif has been last in this town and neighbourhood,
so far as has been ascertained; but it is much to be f aced
that the list is not complete, as three boats were seen on
Saturday drifting northwards, keel up; and on Sunday an-
other, in the same condition.
The accounts which have reached us from other parts of
the roast are even more disastrous than the above. Our
Ab. rdeen correapondent's letter has not yet arrived ; but a
gentleman arrived from that city informs us, this moment
(Monday forenoon), that one vessel has been wrecked there,
with the has of eight lives ; but for this we do not vouch.
From Peterhead, however, the intelligence is of a very pain-
ful nature, as will be learned from the following brief letter,
evidently yenned in haste, and before full particulars had
been ascertained
Peterhead, 19th August. MS.—Dear fiir,—We have had an awful
visitation of Providence here. Last night it blew a hurricane from the
south-east, and a tremendous sea moon areas. Our town is one entire
scene of grief, women tearing their hair, and uttering the most la-
mentable sounds of woe. No less than hi boats stranded here and
there on our beach. Rome boats sunk, and all hands perished in
sight of the multitude. No fewer than 20 to SO peons drowned.
There never was puch a scene on the east toast of &Inland, In the
memory of man.—Yours truly, in haste.
Of the ravages of the storm south of Stonehaven, a graphic
though hurried account is contained in the following com-
munication:
JOHN/MAVEN, AVOIJAM 19.—1 t ni this day our painful duly to record
a series of diewatere, in reference to our fishing population, unparalleled
in the annals of the village. The storm from the E. 6. commenced
about half-past ten o'clock, and continued to increase until about three
o'clock, when the ocean became a "foaming fury." The plater
number of the boats at that time left the fishing ground and
were drifted to the northward. One ill-fated barque and her
unfortunate crew perished, with the exception of One boy, in attempt-
ing to take the Clatterline harbour, at about three o'clock a.m. As
morning apptoschati, our omen :mu mare were nlllll2 tram g. calm :a
seetanctio.y sod anemias spectators mosihfag with inteoesty