346 Mr. Bubble's Narrative of the Explosion 



No. XIX. — Narrative of the Explosion which occurred at Walkend Colliery, 

 on the ISth of June, 1835, by John Bubble, 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 So- 

 ciety, 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 for- 

 gotten. But at the same time, I trust, that a faithful narrative of the par- 

 ticulars 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, per- 

 haps, be uninteresting to those who are not conversant with coal-mining oper- 

 ations, 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 occur- 

 rences of this kind are explained to an enlightened and intelligent commu- 



