Felling mine disaster

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Felling mine disaster was one of the first major mine disasters in Britain, claiming 92 lives on 25 May 1812.

The colliery was situated between Wallsend and Jarrow in what used to be County Durham, now South Tyneside and had two shafts aboout 600 feet deep. It was extended in 1810 by the opening up of a new coal seam, the Low Main seam, and it was here that the explosion which engulfed the pit occurred. As with so many other coal mine disasters, the accident was caused by ignition of firedamp (methane) which then triggered a coal dust explosion. The explosion travelled through the galleries and ended by erupting from one of the shafts. At that time, lighting in the pits was hazardous. Open flame lamps could easily ignite the gas, so steel mills were often used to provide weak illumination, but these too could set off a gas explosion. The alternative was to deliberately destroy gas accumulations in a dangerous operation conducted by a "monk", actually a foolhardy miner shrouded in a wet blanket who poked a candle on a long pole into gas pockets. His life must have been short, but probably well paid when successful.

The disaster became famous because it stimulated an unknown engineer (George Stephenson) and an eminent scientist (Humphry Davy) tohiwith air fed through narrow tubes, down which a flame could not move. The disaster is thus remembered for stimulating inventive minds to tackle the problem. Unfortunately, it did not prevent further disasters because there were other sources of ignition, such as sparks from metal tools and later, electrical equipment and explosives used to blast tunnels. Moreover, both of the lamps could set off explosions if the gauze rusted through (very likely in the wet environment of a pit), or the glass on the Geordie fractured. Later devices such as the Mueseler lamp were better protected, but all such lamps gave very poor illumination. It was not until electric safe lamps were introduced at the end of the Victorian period that miners had adequate and safe lights.