Donibristle Colliery Disaster. 26th. August 1901.
Extracts from Mr. J. B. ATKINSON's (H. M. Inspector of Mines), Report.
At about 1.40 p.m., soft peat or moss started to flow into a heading in the East section of the Mynheer Coal Seam workings of the Nos. 12 and 15 Pits.
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Eight men were killed.
James Bowman McDonald, 32 years of age. Occupation Incline bottomer.
David Campbell, 54 years of age. Occupation, Pit inspector.
William Forsyth, 20 years of age. Occupation Wheeler.
George Herd Hutchison, 50 years of age. Occupation Miner.
William Hynd, 52 years of age. Occupation Pit bottomer.
Andrew Paterson, 40 years of age. Occupation Ostler.
Thomas Rattray, 54 years of age. Occupation Overman.
Alexander Smith, 48 years of age. Occupation Oncostman.
Rescued Miners.
John Farquhar, 40 years of age.
John Colville, 33 years of age.
Thomas Bauld, 36 years of age.
Andrew Love, 40 years of age.
John Beveridge, 32 years of age.
Alexander Bauld, 42 years of age.
Rescuers who were trapped on the 27th. August 1901, then were rescued themselves.
John Jones.
John Sheddon.
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Inquiry was held in the Dunfermline Sheriff Court on the 25th. September 1901.
Sheriff Substitute Gillespie presided.
Honorary Sheriff Substitute Walker occupied a seat on the bench.
Parties present: -
Mr. J. S. Soutar, Acting Procurator Fiscal.
Mr. John Ross, Solicitor, representing the Donibristle Colliery Company.
Mr. James Currie Macbeth, Solicitor, representing the Fife and Kinross Miners' Association and the relatives of the deceased.
Mr. W. G. Campbell, Solicitor, Edinburgh, represented Messrs. Anderson and Chisholm, Solicitors, Edinburgh, agents for the Occan Insurance Company, Limited, (the Donibristle Colliery Company were insured against liability for accidents to workmen).
Mr. J. B. Atkinson, Inspector of Mines.
Mr. R. McLaren and Mr. H. Johnstone, Inspectors of Mines.
Mr. James Innes, President, and Mr. John Weir, Secretary, of the Fife and Kinross Miners' Association.
Fifteen witnesses including: -
Mr. A. H. Nasmyth, the junior partner of the Donibristle Colliery Company.
Mr. Alex. Nasmyth, the manager of the colliery.
Mr. John Gemmell, Mining Engineer.
A partner of the firm of Messrs. Landale, Frew and Gemmell, Mining Engineers.
(who acted for the landlord, the Earl of Moray, and occasionally advised the owners).
Jury verdict.
Unanimously found that the deceased were killed in the Mynheer Seam of No. 12 Pit of Donibristle Colliery. By a subsidence of the mossy surface, which flowed into the workings.
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Information about the Colliery.
Donibristle Colliery is situated in the Parish of Aberdour, near the Burgh of Cowdenbeath in Fifeshire.
Privately owned by the Donibristle Colliery Company.
Partners Mr. James Armstrong Nasmyth and his son Mr. Alexander Hogg Nasmyth.
Manager Mr. Alexander Nasmyth, a nephew of the senior partner.
Under-manager. None appointed.
Thomas Rattray, overman of No. 12 and 15 Pits, held an under-managers certificate.
The Donibristle coalfield is intersected by several large faults.
The inclination of the measures is irregular, but on the whole the rise is to the south.
All the seams cropping out.
Most of the workings lay under a moss, 450 feet above sea level, a rough square of about 1 mile each way, known as Moss Morran.
At the time of the accident the following openings from the surface were in use: -
The James Pit and the Marion Pit.
The No.12 Pit and No.15 Pit. (These pits were recently sunk deeper from the Mynheer to the Dunfermline Splint.)
The Fan or Isabella Pit.
The Day Mine on the Moss.
People employed (approximately).
270 person employed underground.
80 on the surface.
The part of the colliery relating to the accident.
Part of the colliery lying to the east and north of a large fault known as the Moss Morran Dyke, with its approaches from the surface.
The Nos. 12 and 15 Pits were sunk to the Dunfermline Splint seam at a depth of 97 fathoms, intersecting the Mynheer seam at 77 fathoms.
A level in the Mynheer seam extends in an easterly direction from No. 12 Pit for 120 yards.
From this level a stone mine, driven nearly flat for 310 yards, crosses the Moss Morran Dyke, which has here a throw of 20 fathoms up to the east, and catches the Mynheer seam on the rise side.
Levels were driven in the Mynheer seam on each side of the stone mine, and headings from the levels enabled coal to be worked across the hill using the longwall method.
To the north-west the coal was exhausted.
To the east the level continued for 540 yards to the working heading and terminated at a large fault a few yards further in.
A portion of coal still remained to be extracted near the outcrop and to the rise of the extremity of the level.
From the Mynheer level inside the Moss Morran Dyke, two stone mines were driven to the Parrot seam which lies above the Mynheer, intersecting with the Glassee seam.
The first stone mine was a continuation of that across the Moss Morran Dyke and was driven level, the second was 227 yards further in, and was driven with an inclination of 1 in 3.
The Mynheer seam is 5 feet 10 inches thick in the vicinity of the burst, and is directly overlaid by a blaes or shale roof. The road was of very good quality; near the outcrop the backs in the coal were coated with clay.
At the working face 14 inches of coal was left on as a roof, but in the heading and levels this was worked, and in addition 2 feet 4 inches of the roof stone was blasted down and built on the low side of the levels; wood pillars were put in on the rise side.
The heading into which the moss burst was worked as "cut chain brae" (a self-acting incline arranged for the running of hutches of coal from several points on its length), for a length of 40 yards on the slope to an upper level along which the hutches were taken by hand for 14 yards to a lower heading worked as an ordinary self-acting incline, and 104 yards long on the slope to the main level.
The heading in the Mynheer seam reached the outcrop about October, 1900.
Operations were suspended in it until a few days before the accident.
Mr. A. H. Nasmyth, Mr. Alex. Nasmyth, the manager, and Thomas Rattray, the oversman, discussed the question of connecting it with the surface in order to secure a ready means of ingress and egress to and from the workings, and to improve the ventilation.
Mr. A. H. Nasmyth stated at the Inquiry that he then told the manager and oversman that he would not agree to anything being done except on very safe lines.
And that the position of the communication on the surface was to be ascertained and tests made to ascertain the thickness of moss, and if it proved thicker than where previous shafts had been sunk through it nothing was to be done.
The manager and oversman, located the position of the heading face on the surface, and probed the moss in November, 1900, using an iron rod 15 or 18 feet long, they found no bottom.
The result of this test was not reported to Mr. A. H. Nasmyth, and he concluded that it was unfavourable, and that nothing was to be done.
Mr. A. H. Nasmyth also stated that he would not have dreamt of putting the heading up.
The manager stated at the Inquiry that after the tests he told Rattray that it was no use putting a pit there, and that the matter was never again discussed by them.
Previous to the accident the knowledge of the surface deposits appears to have been: -
· The immediate surface was ordinarily hard moss and heather.
· The sinking of shallow pits on the outcrops of the various seams had shown that soft moss was commonly found below the upper solid crust.
· Underground operations in the Mynheer and other seams, and the sinking of pits, had shown that a bed of sand or sand and gravel lay below the soft moss, separated from it by a bed of closer moss.
· The moss above the Mynheer heading had been probed about November, 1900, by an iron rod and found to be of considerable thickness and soft, and the bed of sand had been observed above the coal in the heading.
· A flow of moss into the mine had taken place some 40 years ago, filling a section of the workings (no loss of lives), This inflow took place at a point about 300 yards to the west of the present inflow. In one case a "sit" or subsidence had taken place without any inflow of moss.
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NARRATIVE OF THE ACCIDENT.
Operations were resumed in the heading on Thursday, the 22nd August.
A barricade was erected above the incline wheel to prevent the material worked going down the heading; this barricade closed the road entirely, and the stuff that accumulated against it was afterwards removed to the rib sides on either side of the heading.
The sand and gravel was worked away following the hard pavement of the seam, and the bottom of the moss reached on Saturday, the 24th, and on that day James Dick probed it by pushing forward in a slanting direction an iron rod 17 feet long and ˝ inch diameter.
Dick reported this to Thomas Rattray before starting work on the day of the accident and Rattray asked him if any water was got and if he required a spade to dig out the moss. Dick answered both questions in the negative, and added that as there was still 6 feet of sand to dig out a spade was not required.
On the 26th, and by about 1.40 p.m., David Campbell and Alexander Smith were working at the face of the heading, the roof gave way, and was immediately followed by a rush of moss.
The barricade appears to have prevented the moss flowing directly down the heading and forced it along the rib sides of the upper roads.
On the east side it flowed round the two upper faces, but was prevented reaching the third face by a heavy fall of roof.
This road and its face remained free from moss except for a few yards from its junction with the heading.
On the west side the moss passed round the faces and into the air-way, cutting off all communication in the direction of the air shaft.
The barricade gave way an hour or two after the burst and was swept down the heading along with the wheel and its frame, the timber, rails, and sleepers. Most of the moss would flow down the heading, along the short level and down the second incline; then flow in the direction of the drawing shafts.
Campbell and Smith at the heading face, were probably instantly smothered.
Three miners on the west side of the heading escaped by the intake air-way, two on the east side escaped by the same route after crossing the heading.
George Herd Hutchison, who worked on the west side, was swept down the headin, his body was found in the level.
David Rattray, employed at the top of the second incline, was rescued from behind a stopping on the lower heading by his brother James Rattray and James Dick, who entered the workings by the day mine.
William Forsyth, seems to have tried to escape down the lower heading.
His body was found, in a refuge hole 10 yards below the point from which David Rattray was rescued.
James Dick and James Rattray, were underground at the time of the accident, but not in the Mynheer district. James Rattray later came up the pit and informed his father Thomas Rattray, of the accident. They went to the point of subsidence.
Dick went into the Mynheer level and met the moss flowing out about 50 yards from the working heading; he came up the pit, saw Thomas Rattray and let him know the position.
Thomas Rattray, returned from the point of subsidence to the No. 12 and 15 Pits, and informed the manager of the accident.
At about 3 p.m., Thomas Rattray, William Hynd, James Bowman McDonald, and Andrew Paterson, descended No. 15 Pit as a rescue party: they were not seen again.
The manager was informed of the accident at about 2.40 p.m., by Thomas Rattray, who told him that the moss was 50 yards along the level from the foot of the incline. He visited the subsidence on the surface and saw what had taken place.
He returned to No. 15 Pit and went down to join Rattray and his rescue party, he could find no trace of them. The moss had advanced 400 or 500 yards from the foot of the incline.
He returned to the surface and again visited the point of subsidence, accompanied this time by Mr. A. H. Nasmyth, they found was moss still flowing into the hole.
He again went down No. 15 Pit and ordered a stopping, or light dam, to be erected in front of the moss in the level. The moss never extended beyond this dam, nor did it exert much pressure on it.
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CONCLUSIONS of Mr. J. B. ATKINSON.
This accident shows the dangers of tapping moss from below.
In making a connection between the surface and workings beneath, through such material, the work should be prosecuted downwards and not upwards.
I do not think any blame attaches to the owners in connection with this accident.
Mr. A. H. Nasmyth, the manager, was responsible for the control, management and direction of the mine (under): -
Section 20 (1) Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887.
Section 21 (1) was required to exercise daily personal supervision of the mine.
He stated at the Inquiry that with the knowledge he had of the moss before the accident he would have considered it dangerous to attempt putting through it from below.
He denied on oath any knowledge of the operations that led to the accident.
He also stated that the oversman alone was responsible (who he thought had undertaken the work), expecting, if he was successful, it would be a feather in his cap.
The oversman was stated to be a prudent man of large experience, he was present when the great thickness of soft moss was proved by probing it from the surface.
It is difficult to conceive of his undertaking on his own responsibility dangerous work when, even if successful, he might have expected blame for taking the matter into his own hands.
David Rattray (one of the oversman's sons), stated at the Inquiry that his father had told him that the manager had given him permission to put a road up.
Another witness stated that Rattray told him he was going to ask for permission.
The resumption of work in the heading was known to the miners.
It was for some days within the knowledge of all the under officials, the only survivors had not mentioned it to the manager.
Except for David Rattray's statement there was no evidence that the manager knew of the matter.
The manager's denial must be accepted, but he cannot relieve himself of a measure of responsibility in respect-
(1.) The discipline of the mine must have been defective if an oversman undertook such work without the manager's knowledge.
(2.) A more frequent examination of the working faces than he appeared to make might have brought the matter to his knowledge.
Several witnesses stated they never saw the manager at the working faces.
The manager himself stated he was last round the Mynheer working faces about a month before the accident on an idle day, when he was accompanied only by the deceased, Thomas Rattray.
It must be conceded that a most active manager of a large colliery like Donibristle might often be absent for a week or more from a small section of workings such as that into which the moss burst, and that during his absence an oversman might prosecute a heading to the outcrop, and also that an oversman might recklessly undertake work of a dangerous character in many parts of a large mine without the manager's knowledge.
It might be that Rattray intended to prosecute the heading for testing purposes only and did not propose putting up through the moss unless he obtained permission, and that the dryness of the sand led him to think all was safe so far as the road had gone.
The evidence at the Inquiry did not, support this view, the witnesses questioned on the point stating that it appeared to them that the work was not for testing but for putting through the moss.
It may be that there was some misunderstanding which, owing to Rattray's death, will never cleared up. I find it difficult to believe that Rattray acted recklessly on his own responsibility.
He had been for many years in the owners' employment and appeared to possess their confidence and to have been entrusted with a considerable portion of the details of administration.
It is worthy of note that the extremely dangerous nature of the operations which were being carried on in the heading does not appear to have occurred either to him or to the workmen employed in it.
His inquiry whether Dick would require a spade to cut the moss clearly indicates that he anticipated it would be dry and firm, and in their evidence at the Inquiry Dick and Jas. Rattray stated that they had never anticipated danger.
There had been little rain, during the summer, and Rattray may have thought the moss would in consequence be dry enough not to run.
This is an accident of an unusual character, although accidents due to inrushes of sand and mud are not infrequent.
It is the first of its kind involving loss of life that I have had direct official cognizance of during the 28 years I have acted as H. M. Inspector of Mines.
It is an accident that might have been expected to have been more frequent in the early years of coal mining when shallow seams were more worked but, per contra, it is only of late years that coal has been worked on a large scale under moorland, which usually lies at high elevations in sparsely-populated districts away from centres of industry, and this accident is a valuable object lesson to many mines now working under mosses.
Bore hole results revealed.
Moss………… 24 feet.
Sand……………7 feet.
Rotten Rock…..7 feet.
Coal……………1 feet.
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Song about the Disater.
The Donibristle Disaster.
by
James R Murray.
On the twenty-sixth of August, our fatal moss gave way.
Although we did our level best, its course we couldn't stay.
Ten precious lives there were at stake, "Who'll save them?" was the cry;
"We'll bring them to the surface, or along wiyh them we'll die."
There was Rattray and McDonald, Hynd and Paterson,
Too well they knew the danger and the risk they had to run.
They never stopped to count the cost; "We'll save them," was the cry;
"We'll bring them to the surface or along with them we'll die."
They stepped upon the cage, they were ready for the fray.
They all meant business as they belled themselves away.
Soon they reached the bottom, far from the light of day,
And went to search the workings, and Tom Rattray led the way.
They lost their lives, God help them. Ah, yes it was a fact,
Someone put in a stopping and they never did get back.
Was that not another blunder? My God, it was a sin.
To put a stopping where they did, it closed our heroes in.
We never shall forget them, though they have lost their lives,
So let us pay attention to their children and their wives.
It simply is our duty now, and let us all beware.
Their fathers died a noble death and left them in our care.
There was Rattray and McDonald, Hynd and Paterson,
Too well they knew the danger and the risk they had to run.
They never stopped to count the cost; "We'll save them," was the cry;
"We'll bring them to the surface, or along with them we'll die."
Sample of Swan Arcade's version of the song .
Copyright © Joseph Stocks.
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