Page:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1838 Vol.2.djvu/390

346 Mr. Buddle's Narrative of the Explosion

No. XIX. —Narrative of the Explosion which occurred at Wallsend Colliery, on the I8th of June, 1835, by John Buddle, Esq.
Read November 16, 1835. This explosion, the most fatal in its consequences, as to the loss of human life, that is to be found in the annals of coal-mining, cannot, perhaps, be recorded in a more appropriate place than in the Transactions of this Society, especially as we look forward to its rooms becoming a place of deposit for mining records.

The intense degree of interest excited by this accident in the immediate neighbourhood, and the general sympathy evinced by the whole country for the families and relatives of its unfortunate victims, will not soon be forgotten. But at the same time, I trust, that a faithful narrative of the particulars of so awful a catastrophe, may not be found altogether unacceptable to this Society, nor to those who feel an interest in the welfare of that great source of our national prosperity — our coal mines.

It will shew to posterity the inadequacy of our present means of guarding against the difficulties and dangers which are incidental to coal-mining in the present state of our knowledge of that science; and may, by directing attention to the subject, as the knowledge of physical science advances, lead to the discovery of the means of preventing, or of greatly diminishing, the risk of such catastrophes; the melancholy effects of which have been but too often witnessed in our time.

Before I proceed to narrate the particulars of this accident, it may not, perhaps, be uninteresting to those who are not conversant with coal-mining operations, to give a brief sketch of the various modes of ventilating collieries, and then to describe the system pursued at Wall's End Colliery at the time this explosion occurred. As I feel satisfied, that the more fully occurrences of this kind are explained to an enlightened and intelligent commu-