Page:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1838 Vol.2.djvu/405

 teers, who had suffered the least from their former exertions, went down the C Pit, with the determination to penetrate into the third south-east division A, if possible. They found a very good current of air going as far as the entrance of this division, but from the crossing F, and the stoppings near to it, having only been repaired in a temporary manner, the current of air fell slack as they proceeded, and they reached the ninth board south with difficulty, where they got sight of some dead bodies. But although the Davys burnt very well, the after damp was so strong that it overpowered them, and, but for the exertions of the reserve, assisted by a party of able and experienced men from Jarrow Colliery, under the direction of Mr. John A. Forster, the viewer, who kindly came, unsolicited at the moment, to render all the assistance he could, some of their lives would have been lost. Mr. Hunter was brought out in a state of insensibiilty, and Mr. Atkinson, Jun., and others were much exhausted and very ill.

Men were immediately set to work to put the crossing F into a more complete state of repair as a stopping, and to replace the brick stoppings which had been blown out, with temporary wooden ones, to throw a stronger current of air into the third south-east district. By this time it was near two o'clock in the morning of the 19th, when I went down the C Pit, with Mr. Atkinson and a party of men; we found a pretty good air passing into this district, but not sufficiently powerful to enable us to go with prudence beyond the point where Mr. Hunter and his party had reached.

It was evident that a more powerful current of air was wanting, as well as more time, to clear away the after-damp. The ventilation was, however, sufficiently strong to carry off the gas, as the atmosphere was not explosive in the Davys.

Here we found the body of John Robson, one of the deputy-ovemen, and three or four others near to it. Robson was not burnt, but had died of suffocation, after creeping some distance.

The further repair of the stoppings for conveying a more efficient current of air into this district was now set about with great dilligence; and as it was anticipated that the main current would slacken, as the mass of brickwork about the furnaces and the upcast shafts cooled, the furnaces being