Durham Mining Museum - Newspaper Articles (original) (raw)

1st October 1910

The Whitehaven Pit Disaster

More Bodies Discovered

Seventeen more bodies were found yesterday in the Wellington Pit, Whitehaven, making a total of 69 out of 136 entombed men. The 50 found on Thursday were from No. 6 North, where seven other men were unaccounted for ; these seven are expected to be in No. 5 North, where there were also 28 other men working. Of this total of 35, 18 now remain to be found. There are no bodies left in No. 6 North and the remainder are probably in No. 5 North.

The exploring party was practically the same as on the previous day, with the exception of Mr. Richards, M.P., who did not go down, though Mr. Herbert Smith, his colleague of the federation, did. The party went into No. 5 North air way leading from No. 6, which is the intake for No. 5. Nearly 300 yards in from the main road they found a message chalked on a piece of board laid across the rails :— "All's well. Four o'clock. — Thirty-five men and boys. — J. Moore." J. Moore is the name of a coal hewer. Near the same place was found a piece of newspaper hanging to a string, evidently to show which way the air was going. The party found gas coming into No. 5 from No. 6 and had to go in with electric light. Passing through a stopping they found the 17 bodies, nine on one side and eight on the other. Some of those through the stopping were partly covered by a fall. The features were no longer recognizable, though there may be other means of identification. The party passed three falls, and under the second it was certain from the smell that there were other bodies.

The men were lying as if they had died quite peacefully. They had perhaps tried to come out and gone back behind the doors, or they may have been trapped by falls. The probability is, according to Mr. Atkinson, the inspector, that "Four o'clock" was 4 in the morning of May 12 and that all the men in the pit were dead by 9 or 10 that morning. Until Monday operations will be confined to bringing out the bodies recovered yesterday and on Thursday. The first bodies were brought to the surface at half-past 3 yesterday afternoon. Three shifts of 100 men each are constantly working the main haulage. Way has first to be cleared for the renewal of the haulage, and the big fall at the friction gear has to be removed and all the debris brought to the surface.

Opening Of The Inquest.

The inquest was formally opened yesterday afternoon on the two bodies first found, which were identified as those of Thomas McCourt and John Dalton Lucas. Both of these men were identified by their clogs. Mr. Helder, on behalf of the colliery company, and Mr. Andrew Sharp, on behalf of the Miners' Union, said they would do all they could to court and facilitate inquiry as to the cause of the accident and with a view to preventing similar disasters in the future. The inquest was adjourned until October 18, by which date, the Government inspectors informed the Coroner, all the bodies would probably have been recovered that could be recovered.

In the mean time burial certificates will be given only on the undertaking that if the coffins are removed to any dwelling they will not be opened, and that the funeral will take place without any delay. Without such a stipulation, said Dr. Fisher, the municipal medical officer, there would be danger to health. There is a fear that in some cases the bodies might be "baked."