Mr. Bubble's Account of the Explosion in Jarrow Colliery. 19^7 



here the cause of accident appeared at once. The face of the drift pre- 

 sented all the appearances of its having holed into an old working, out 

 of which a quantity of compressed air had rushed with vast force, and 

 fired at the first flame it met. 



The drift was 9 feet wide, and 5 high, the whole block of Coal, across 

 the face, seemed to have been forced forward with great violence, hav- 

 ing a jagged apperture of 9 to 12 inches in width, along the roof, and 

 down its left or north side, as shewn in the diagram No. 1. 



No. 1. 



On closer examination, the block of Coal in the face of the drift, ap- 

 peared as if it had been detached by an explosion of gunpowder, leaving 

 a hollow space behind, and a cavity also appeared in the Coal wall, on 

 the left side of the drift. On removing the block of Coal, which did 

 not take place till the 21st of September, it was found to be 4 feet thick 

 from the front to the back, and a space of 7 feet wide behind it, ex- 

 tended to a down-cast hitch of 31 feet. This space was filled with 

 {danty) disintegrated Coal, of a sooty appearance, (a specimen of which 

 I have presented to the Society,) as shewn in Diagram No. 2. 



