NATIONAL. Wattstown, Glamorganshire. 11th. July, 1905.

The colliery was in the Rhondda Fach Valley about two miles north of Porth and was owned by the United National Collieries, Limited, Wattstown near Pontypridd. There were two shafts which were sinking in 1880 to the Six Feet Seam which was reached at 454 yards. The downcast was seventeen and a half feet in diameter and the upcast fourteen feet in diameter. For about 14 years the Two Feet Nine and the Four Feet seams which had been sunk through, were the only seams that were worked. About 11 yards before the disaster, the upcast shaft was deepened 101 yards to the Lower Five Feet Seam and a heading was driven in it for a distance of about 5 yards and left.

Nine years before the explosion the Nine Feet Seam was opened out from the same shaft at a depth of 479 yards and a staple pit was sunk from the Six Feet Seam to given ventilation and a second outlet. The coal was drawn up the upcast shaft and from that time, both the upcast and downcast shafts were coal winding shafts. The coal from the Two Feet Nine and Four Feet Seams was worked from the downcast shaft. The Two Feet Nine was six and a quarter feet thick, the Four Feet was six feet thick and the Nine feet Seam was six feet thick. The dip of the seam was four inches to the yard to the North West. All the seams produced steam coal.

A plan was drawn up to deepen the downcast shaft to the Lower Five Feet Seam without interfering with coal drawing and a year before a pit was “roofed” or risen up, from the Nine Feet Seam to within 15 feet of and exactly vertically under, the downcast shaft bottom in the Six Feet Seam. a hole was then bored fro the centre of the downcast to the rising pit. An electric winding engine with a two-foot diameter drum, worked by a totally enclosed Peebles polyphase 30 h.p. motor, was erected in the Nine Feet No.1 North Level and the pit sunk in the same vertical line to the Lower Five Feet Seam which was won at a depth of 101 yards below the Six Feet Seam or 555 yards from the surface.

The Certificated Manager was Mr. William Meredith who also acted as agent. Mr. Evan Williams was the undermanager and Mr. E. Prosser the overman. Mr. Edgar Watts, one of the directors of the Company, visited the colliery at regular intervals but took no active part in the management. There were usually 934 men and boys employed underground in the workings from the two shafts and 125 on the surface.

The workings in the downcast shaft were not affected by the explosion and affected only the Nine feet and Lower Five Feet Seams. The ventilation was produced by a Schiels Fan fifteen and a quarter feet in diameter, belt-driven by a horizontal engine with a 32-inch diameter cylinder with a three feet stroke and an attached condenser. The pressure of the steam was 70 lbs. per square inch and the vacuum, produced was 10lbs. per square inch. With the engine running at 53 r.p.m. and the fan running at 159 r.p.m. the last measurement gave 166, 530 cubic feet per minute of air circulating through the mine at a water gauge of 3.1 inches. There was a Waddle Fan, 45 feet in diameter with a 36-inch diameter engine and a three feet stroke erected nearby and connected to the upcast and worked alternately with the Schiels or in case of it breaking down. The air currents were well arranged and the ventilation of the colliery was generally good.

The air was last measured on the 1st July when 20,170 cubic feet ventilated the south side workings of the Nine Feet Seam and 11, 020 cubic feet passed around the north side workings and the heading at the bottom of the sinking pit.

There were two ventilation districts within the meaning of the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887. No. 1 embraced the workings north of the shafts, which were being filled with rubbish as coal working had been discontinued six months before the explosion. No.2 comprised the workings of the south side of the shafts and in which the coal was being worked on the day of the explosion. The air for this came fresh from the surface by the downcast shaft to the Six Feet Seam and from there by the staple pit, which also acted as a second outlet for the Nine Feet Seam and was provided with iron ladders for this purpose.

There was one fireman by day and one by night, the day fireman was occasionally assisted of a bratticeman. The work in connection with the sinking pit and driving the heading in the Five Feet Seam was under the charge of Mr. William Jones who was an experienced master sinker.

The workings, for the most part, were on the longwall method as practised in the South Wales coalfield and had headings turning off the dips every 40 to 60 yards and stalls turning off the headings, 12 yards apart. The whole of the seam was removed by this method in one operation. The roads were kept open through the goafs by gob walls. The road immediately behind the face was kept up by “cogs” and props and the space between the gob walls of the roads, filled with debris, partly produced in the working of the coal and partly by taking down the roof on the roads to make and maintain sufficient height.

About 99 yards of face from Taylor’s to Gibbon’s dip was worked on the “Barry” method in which trams were taken along the face. The road was shifted laterally as the face advanced and the space behind filled with rubbish. In the “Barry” face, the roof was supported by “flats” and props. In this district, the main returns were used to transport coal which was not the usual practice in the district. Mechanical haulage had not been introduced and horses about 15 hands high were used. There were about 30 of them and all were killed in the explosion.

Single gauze Clanny lamps were used with a short gauze cap on the top. They were bonneted and provided with pneumatic locks. They burned colza oil which had a flashpoint of 280 to 300 degrees. The fireman used Cambrian firemen’s lamps which was really a Davy with a bonnet and a movable glass. They also carried a bonneted Clanny when making their first examination in case they lost a light. During the shift they generally used the bonneted Clanny because they gave a better light. There were no naked lights in the Nine Feet Seam, except one in the lamp station in the intake, near the bottom of the staple downcast pit. The upcast shaft bottom and the top of the sinking pit were lit by electricity.

There was very little shotfiring in the Nine Feet Seam and according to evidence at the inquiry, the last shot fired in this seam was on the 27th May, six weeks before the explosion. They were fired at the parting of the No.1 south level and were charged and fired between shifts as which had been the practice for the previous twenty years.

As with all the steam coal seams on the district, both the Nine Feet and Five Feet Seams produced firedamp freely and constantly, the latter more frequently than the former. In the experience of other collieries, the Five Feet was as fiery as the Upper Four Feet in which a great number of serious explosions had occurred. On the morning of the explosion the fireman had reported finding a “blower” of David Rees’ heading and another on Gibbon’s dip. Both were stated to have been diluted as given off. The Report Books showed that gas was frequently found in the three months previous to the explosion and was recorded 108 times but of that number 107 was entered as “diluted blowers” so that in that time only one accumulation of gas was found. H.M. Inspectors of mines commented:

In a thick seam like the Nine feet, especially with the Red coal only 1 to 3 feet above it, it would be very remarkable if issues of gas were not occasionally found, and it the reports contained no records of such findings they would be viewed with suspicion.

The heading in the Five Feet Seam had been examined by William Jones, the master sinker, on the morning of the explosion but he appeared to have made no report of the examination. The last entry by him in the Report Book was on the 10th July when the heading was reported free from gas. The only other occasions that gas had been reported were on the 28th and 29th June when he entered “small blower on straight” and “small blower on top.”

The overman did not visit the Nine Feet workings but devoted the whole of his time to the Two feet Nine Seam workings from the downcast shaft. The undermanager had been off duty for six weeks before the explosion due to illness so that the Nine Feet and the Five Feet Seams would be looked after by the manager, fireman and master sinker.

The colliery was naturally dry and warm and the haulage roads, unless water, would constantly contained quantities of coal dust. Pipes for watering the roads had been laid in the other seams but not in the Nine Feet. The only means of watering these roads was by casks filled with water drawn along by trams and allowing the water to run from holes in the casks. This was not a very good method as it wet only the middle of the roads between the rails and the sides of the roads and the timbers were not watered. The trams had both ends closed which prevented coal loss and the dust to be kept down.

The seam produces about 170 to 180 tons per day. No coal was drawn during the night shift which was devoted to repairing, ripping and stowing rubbish. The day shift usually employed 132 underground but o the day of the disaster, 12 were not at work. Forty were engaged during the night shift and there were 606 at work in the Two feet Nine Seam on the day of the accident.

The explosion occurred at 11.45 a.m. on the 11th July. According to those who were near the top of the shafts, there was no great noise but a large quantity of dust was blown up both shafts. According to the banksman’s statement, the dust was so thick that they were unable to see for some time as they got dust in their eyes. The pitman, the man in charge of the shafts and fittings, was in the lodge room in the No.2 Rhondda Seam, within five feet of the sides of the upcast shaft at the time. He said, “I heard the rush of wind knock against the pump, and saw an amount of vapour coming up the shaft by no flame”. According to the winding engineman, the cap covering the top of the upcast shaft was blown 10 feet into the air and then it dropped back into place. The Schiel fan was not damaged and continued to work but at a decreased speed. It was found that the brickwork near the doors leading into the fan chamber was blown down and the fan was being fed by fresh air from the surface. The reserve fan, the Waddle, was put into service at once.

With the exception of the hitchers, the men in the workings of the downcast shaft were unaware that anything was wrong. The hitchers had seen the sump planks blow up but they thought nothing of it and replaced the planks. They were about to go back to work when Mr. Kane, the surveyor, came to them from the Two Feet Nine Seam. He sent messages to bring the men out of that seam and with the overman, pitman and others started at once on the work of rescue.

After putting up sheets in place of the separation doors, which had been blown away on the Six Feet Seam, they had the cage raised to the Two feet Nine landing and they descended to within a few feet of the bottom. Further descent was prevented by trams and other things being blown on to the sump planks. About six feet from the shaft they found one of the hitchers and near him a “cogman” In the lamp station they found the lamp locker. These men were alive and were removed at once to the surface. Only the lampman survived, the other two died later of shock. One body had been blown into the sump and another was at the edge of the shaft. At the turn leading to the sinking pit they discovered the manager’s body and a few yards further on they found the body of the master sinker. Near the e top of the sinking pit they found the bodies of three sinkers and that of the electric winding man. In the lamp station, where the lamp locker had been discovered alive there was the body of a haulier. It was sometime before he was discovered as he was under one of the benches.

As soon as the living had been sent to the surface, attention was given to restoring the ventilation. As the sheets replaced the main separation doors, the air then passed along the No.2 south level as far as the doors near the top of Taylor’s dip. The level was then explored to this point.

One of H.M. Inspectors of Mines, Mr. Gray, heard of the accident while he was attending an inquest at Bargoed. He left on the next train and was at the colliery by 7 p.m. Mr. J. Dyer Lewis, the Senior Assistant Inspector of Mines in the district could not get a train and arrived the following morning and Mr. F.J. Trump another Assistant Inspector was at a colliery at Aberdare and arrived at 6 p.m. and immediately went down the mine.

They heard of what had been done and studied the plans of the colliery. By this time the explorers were restoring the ventilation and the afterdamp filled the upcast shaft which could not be used and the ladders in the staple pit had been blown put. When the exploring party returned they reported that good progress was being made. They had reached the workings and travelled down Gibbon’s dip and around the faces but were prevented from getting up Taylor’s dip by a heavy fall and afterdamp. They had made such good progress going in that they had had to stop to let the afterdamp clear. They reported finding fifty-eight bodies and thought that no one could be left alive.

After a consultation it was decided that as the upcast shaft had not been examined from the Two Feet Nine up to the surface and work was done on the shaft to repair a guide rope. The Inspectors and several colliery agents and managers together with about 80 men descended. They inspected the shaft bottom and the top of the sinking pit. They then travelled down Gibbon’s dip, explored the workings in the Red Seam and discovered nine more bodies. In the workings off David Rees’ heading it was seen that the men had had time to run fro the face, in some cases about 30 yards. The men in the Red Seam seemed to have lived longer than the others and most of them had been suffocated, several of them sheltering their faces with their caps. In the “Barry” face which was 99 yards along, twenty-six bodies were counted. These men had been killed before they had time to move. The fall prevented the exploration of Taylor’s dip and as the men were taking the bodies out of the pit, the idea of making a road round the fall was abandoned. Twenty-five bodies were sent out that first night and the party came to the surface at 7 a.m. on the 12th.

The next shift of explorers cleared a passage over the fall and a great many bodies were discovered in Taylor’s dip. After seeing the whole of the workings and the position of the bodies, the Inspectors came to the conclusion that the flames had traversed the whole of the district with the exception of the workings off David Rees’ heading. The roads were not very badly damaged and the work of exploring the whole seam was quickly completed and all the bodies recovered.

The men and boys who lost their lives were:

  • William Eastment aged 5 years, hitcher.
  • Thomas Lillycrop aged 25 years, haulier.
  • William Meredith aged 55 years, manager.
  • William Jones aged 60 years, master sinker.
  • Elias Roberts aged 25 years, sinker.
  • James Baines aged 55 years, sinker.
  • Isaac Davies aged 29 years, winding engineman.
  • Richard Morgan aged 59 years, haulier.
  • Arthur Kemp aged 43 years, repairer.
  • John Morgan aged 59 years, repairer.
  • Thomas Edwards aged 23 years, haulier.
  • David G. Davies aged 23 years, haulier.
  • W.G. Basset aged 14 years, doorboy.
  • James Healing aged 14 years, doorboy.
  • W.H. Goldsworthy aged 20 years, haulier.
  • George Chidley aged 18 years, haulier.
  • J.M. Williams aged 14 years, doorboy.
  • Thomas Davies aged 38 years, master haulier.
  • Thomas Flower aged 41 years, collier.
  • Thomas King aged 47 years, collier.
  • James Gibbon aged 48 years, collier.
  • O. Pritchard aged 38 years, collier.
  • Idris Williams aged 21 years, collier.
  • John Probert aged 20 years, collier.
  • Edward Morgan aged 16 years, collier boy.
  • D.J. Rees aged 15 years, collier boy.
  • David Rees aged 38 years, collier.
  • Sam Bird aged 16 years collier boy.
  • John Gibbon aged 25 years, collier.
  • Charles Davies aged 18 years, haulier.
  • E.J. Sampson aged 17 years, collier boy.
  • John Howells aged 42 years collier.
  • Thomas Howell aged 15 years, collier boy
  • Isaac Jones aged 17 years, collier.
  • William Hudd aged 16 years, collier boy.
  • John E. Davies aged 18 years, collier.
  • Fleury Mahoney aged 17 years, collier boy.
  • Alf Richards aged 46 years, collier.
  • W.J. Evans aged 18 years, collier.
  • Evan John aged 18 years, collier.
  • Robert Hallet aged 38 years, collier.
  • William Hallet aged 17 years, collier.
  • D.G. Davies aged 26 years, collier.
  • M.J. Stuart aged 15 years, collier boy.
  • D. Johnson aged 64 years, labourer.
  • Ben Walters aged 37 years, collier.
  • Robert Cross aged 38 years, collier.
  • John Jones aged 36 years, collier.
  • John Tingle aged 14 years, collier boy.
  • J.R. Walters aged 15 years, collier boy.
  • Sam Smith aged 14 years, collier boy.
  • W.T. John aged 23 years, collier.
  • Thomas Perryman aged 19 years, collier.
  • Thomas J. Prosser aged 16 years, collier boy.
  • Fred Fletcher aged 25 years, collier.
  • E. Beard aged 14 years, collier boy.
  • Sam Mason aged 34 years, collier.
  • George Perryman aged 38 years, collier.
  • William Perryman aged 14 years, collier boy.
  • Thomas Williams aged 15 years, haulier.
  • William Daniel aged 40 years, collier.
  • C.H. Davies aged 15 years, collier boy.
  • C.E. Perry aged 19 years, labourer.
  • Alf Uzzel aged 40 years, collier.
  • John Uzzel aged 15 years, collier boy.
  • George Evans aged 26 years, collier.
  • David Phillips aged 26 years, collier.
  • John Rees aged 37 years, collier.
  • Robert Yell aged 20 years, haulier.
  • Amon Billit aged 22 years, collier.
  • David Davis aged 37 years, collier.
  • D.T. Morris aged 15 years, collier boy.
  • W.T. Morley aged 27 years, collier.
  • Thomas H. Smith aged 17 years, collier.
  • D. Williams aged 26 years, collier.
  • Robert Billit aged 34 years, haulier.
  • David Davis aged 32 years, collier.
  • Thomas Jones aged 15 years, collier boy.
  • John Davis aged 26 years, haulier.
  • David Johnson aged 16 years, labourer.
  • David Powell aged 32 years, collier.
  • John Tuberville aged 14 years, collier boy.
  • Thomas Davies aged 40 years, collier.
  • W.A. Williams aged 13 years, collier boy.
  • Ben Lewis aged 16 years, collier boy.
  • Ben Lewis aged 53 years, collier.
  • Able Marshall aged 33 years, collier.
  • W.H. Lloyd aged 16 years, collier boy.
  • Alf King aged 22 years, collier.
  • William Thomas aged 17 years, collier.
  • R. Williams aged 43 years, collier.
  • Edward Williams aged 16 years, collier boy.
  • John Clancy aged 38 years, collier.
  • C. Clancy aged 17 years, collier.
  • John Rees aged 17 years, collier.
  • John Rees aged 50 years, collier.
  • Thomas Jones aged 51 years, collier.
  • F. Wiltshire aged 14 years, collier boy.
  • J. Williams aged 44 years, haulier.
  • W.H. Evans aged 17 years, haulier.
  • T. Owen aged 33 years, sinker.
  • William Morgan aged 17 years, collier.
  • John Morgan aged 25 years, collier.
  • M.R. Evans aged 25 years, haulier.
  • C.E. Perry aged 39 years, radman.
  • Sam Hughes aged 21 years, haulier.
  • F. Woodham aged 33 years, collier.
  • James Evans aged 29 years, sinker.
  • D.S. Powell aged 15 years, door boy.
  • David Davis aged 47 years, fireman.
  • John Reeves aged 19 years, hitcher who lived 6 hours but died of shock.
  • J. William Dando aged 27 years, cogman who lived 15 years and died of shock.

As soon as all the victims from the workings had been recovered, men were set to work to repair the top of the sinking pit. This was done and the shaft examined and found to contain 27 yards of water. The upcast below the Nine Feet Seam was them examines and it was found that water was 45 yards lower than it had stood for years. Mr. Gray found from the firemen and sinkers that a heading had been driven in the Lower Five Feet, 24 yards to the south-east of the sinking pit from where it was cut up into the upper coal and driven in at right angles towards the upcast shaft. About 3.15 a.m. on the Monday before the explosion, a borehole was made in advance of the heading and struck water. It was plugged and a pair of props placed as close to the face as possible with planks across; it was intended to strengthen it later.

Nothing was done in the heading during Monday and the sinkers were told that other work would be found for them. The pitmen and carpenters were believed to be repairing appliances for drawing water and sludge out of the upcast at nights and it was thought by the colliery people that this arrangement would be carried out. When the water was lowered a few yards in the sinking pit, the body of the last of the sinkers was recovered and as the water lowered i the pit it lowered at the same rate in the upcast shaft.

The mouth of the heading was uncovered and it was seen that the timbers had fallen and there was firedamp in the heading. The fall was cleared by the 28th. July and travelled from pit to pit. A careful search was made for traces of the coal barrier but not a sign of it could be found.

The inquest was opened on the 12th July 1905 at the Wattstown Hotel, Wattstown before Coroner Mr. R.J. Rhys when evidence of identification was taken. The proceedings were the adjourned until 31st July when all interested parties were represented and a full and searching inquiry lasting over three days was conducted. The jury reached the following verdict:

That in our opinion Richard Morgan and the other men lost their lives by an explosion at the National Colliery on the 11th July, and that the explosion was caused by shotfiring in the barrier of coal in the cross heading from the sinking pit to the upcast.

They added the following rider:

That in our opinion shot firing should be absolutely prohibited except between shifts, and the shot men should be in the pit at the time.

The Reports conclude by saying that:

We are convinced that the explosion was prevented from passing into the Two Feet Nine seam workings where 606 men were employed by the wet condition of the staple pit, the downcast shaft and the upcast shaft. We believe the dust was blown up the shafts on the force returning, after having traversed the workings.

 With regard to the recommendations as to shotfiring only between shifts, we desire to say that we allude to the mines of South Wales. We are not prepared to say that this measure need necessarily extend to all mines in the United Kingdom. We are inclined to believe that the greater number of owners would welcome the change for, apart from humanitarian grounds, a big explosion is a very costly matter to the mine owners when it occurs.

 We are, of course, prepared to admit that there may be something to be said on the other side, but upon the whole the balance of our opinion id in favour of the prohibition in South Wales.

 With regard to watering, we do not mean necessarily to advocate a complete drenching of the whole mine with water. The isolation of districts by a well-arranged system would in many cases be sufficient. But this explosion had confirmed out view of the importance of this subject and we think it merits very serious attention.

 We quite concur with the view that the authority at the mine should stringently see to the issue and use of the explosives.

 

REFERENCES
Report on the circumstances attending an explosion which occurred at the National Colliery, Wattstown, on the 11th July 1905 by E. Milner-Jones, Barrister-at-Law and by F.A. Gray and J.T. Robson, Two of His Majesty’s Inspectors of Mines.
Colliery Guardian, 14th July 1905, p.55, 57, 4th August, p.164, 25th August, p.275.
”And they worked us to death” Vol.2. Ben Fieldhouse and Jackie Dunn. Gwent Family History Society.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

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