After The Flood

Monday - Day One

The flood occurred shortly before noon on Monday, 14th January 1895. As soon as the situation became apparant, the pump at No 3 (Boyles Hall) shaft was set to work at full rate. However, the pump at No 1 shaft proved useless as it was surrounded by water and would not work. Colliery managers set about trying to divert the water into empty workings so as to give as many men as possible a chance to escape. The last batch of survivors was brought to the surface by John Boulton at around five o'clock in the afternoon, and no-one was brought out subsequently. By Monday afternoon, Mr W N Atkinson, HM Inspector of Mines, and Mr Joel Settle of the Madeley Coal & Iron Company had arrived and had been down into the pit several times. A search party comprising Messrs Atkinson, Mitcheson, Settle, Henshaw and Maddock, came back up at seven o'clock were of the opinion that it would be 24 hours before the water level dropped sufficiently for the remaining trapped men to be brought out. In the meantime, nothing could be done except to keep the pumps working.

By nightfall, several hundred friends and family of the missing men were travelling back and forth between No 1 and No 3 shaft (some 600 yards) in the snow and slush in search of news. The gas jets which normally gave light at the colliery at night had been put out and the only illumination was from the moon and miners' lamps. The pumping engine was raising 180 gallons of water a minute but the water level had dropped just six inches in two hours and remained four foot six inches deep at the bottom of the shaft. George Burgess and Thomas Corbett, the smith and carpenter, were using the cage in No 1 shaft to bring up debris. It was hoped that once the obstruction near No 1 shaft was removed, efforts might be made to reach those trapped in the East 7 foot and 10 foot seams.

Tuesday - Day Two

As dawn approached, it became clear that there was no real chance of reaching the trapped men from No 3 (Boyles Hall) shaft, so attention was turned to No 1 shaft. Once the water level dropped there to around a foot, the Cameron engine could be brought into operation. By six o'clock in the morning, the trapped men had been below ground for almost 24 hours, with no food except what they had taken down with them the previous day. Reports came that around fifteen yards of debris had been cleared from the tunnel running from the bottom of No 1 shaft towards the 10 foot dip - but there were another 15 yards to be cleared before the bottom of the 10 foot dip would be reached. Men began to arrive at the colliery and changed into their working clothes, waiting for their turn to descend and work on clearing the blockage of debris.
Messrs Maddock and Mitcheson descended No 2 shaft to determine the water level there, and found it was just below the roof, while the water continued to run freely. They became concerned that as the debris was loosened, it would run down into the sump and prevent any further pumping. However, they had no choice but to continue with the removal, and accordingly the next group of miners prepared to descend.
Throughout the early hours, each time the cage ascended, the waiting relatives would crowd around to see if any survivors had been brought up, but each time there was no news. By morning, the waiting crowd had dwindled to around 50.
By nine am, the pump had been reduced to seven strokes per miniute, for fear of the sludge from the wall of debris blocking the sump. The water level in the shaft had fallen to four foot 3 inches, and still the water was rushing through the workings below ground. Twenty men were sent to fill up one of the old gutter pits, from which water was pouring into Diglake. However, between the hours of two and six am around a hundred square yards of clay and stone had been thrown down the gutter shaft with no appreciable effect.
At around one thirty in the afternoon, an inspection was made, and it was decided that work on clearing the obstruction at the foot of No 1 shaft should be suspended as being too dangerous. The miners were working underground in water four foot six inches deep, and progress was extremely slow. Moreover, the water level showed no signs of falling.
Rain began to fall, and hopes of rescuing the still-unknown number of men trapped below ground began to fade. However, the ventilation fan had been kept going and the engine man stated that he could detect a leak somewhere, possibly caused by the trapped men breaking into an air line in order to provide themselves with ventilation.
It was by now generally acknowledged that the eleven or so missing men from the West 8 foot seam must have perished; this seam was at a lower level than the 10 and 7 foot seams and so would have flooded first.
In the afternoon, a decision was taken to descend No 3 shaft and try to lower the roadway there, allowing the water to flow more quickly into the old workings below. At twenty past five, thirteen men in the charge of John Sproston were lowered into the shaft. They returned to the surface at nine o'clock that evening, with the news that they had cut a channel through the head of the level and that a large stream of water was now flowing into the old workings. At the same time, measurements showed that the water level at No 1 shaft had falled by a good eight inches, and it was decided that efforts to shift the blockage near No 1 shaft could now be resumed. At nine minutes to ten o'clock a party of six was lowered, including Mr Makepeace, Mr Frank Rigby and Mr John Watts. Nine minutes later they returned - with the first body to be recovered from the flooded pit. The dead man had been found amongst the debris which formed the main blockage between the shaft and the 10 foot dip.
At ten-thirty pm, the cage descended again, returning an hour later with the news that they had found a second body, trapped beneath a waggon which formed part of the underground blockage. It was their opinion that removing the waggon would cause a large amount of debris to be swept directly into the pump.

Wednesday - Day Three

At ten minutes past midnight, another team of men led by Elisha Mayer was lowered into No 1 shaft, and they returned twenty minutes later with the body which had been discovered late on Tuesday night. The body was identified as Harry Rhodes, a breaker from Boon Hill. Between two and three o'clock in the morning, the men suceeded in reaching the pumping engine at the bottom of No 1 shaft, and preparations were made for getting it started. But by seven thirty that morning, the Cameron pump still lay idle, it's suction pipe still blocked by quantities of dirt.
Yet still the air continued to circulate below ground, leading to the faint hope that some of the men at least remained alive down there.
The first body to be recovered was identified as Charles Vernon of Wood Lane, a man whose father had been killed in the Talk'o'th'Hill explosion of 1866. Later on Wednesday, it was realised that the man was actually Henry Holland, a friend of Charles Vernon's. In life he had often been confused with his friend.
Efforts continued to clear the blockage to the 10 foot dip, and relays of men continued to work waist deep in the freezing water below ground, but as night fell on Wednesday evening, still the Cameron pump would not work, and the clearing of the blockage was painfully slow - but was progressing.
Late on Wednesday night, a rumour spread that sixty men had been brought up out of the pit alive. Relatives rushing to the pit were bitterly disappointed.

Thursday - Day Four

At eight o'clock am the Cameron pump was finally started, and made good progress in reducing the water level. However, efforts to clear the blockage were stopped by a waggon which was so entrenched in other debris that, despite hours of work, it could not be moved. A distance of twenty yards from the shaft had been cleared, but now work was at a standstill. After an inspection at quarter past two in the afternoon, a plan was formed to try and cut a passage around the waggon.
The inquest was opened at the Plough Inn, Audley. A half-holiday in the Potteries had resulted in many spectators visiting the pit to see for themselves the state of affairs. By quarter to seven in the evening, work was still at a stop. By quarter past, the plan to cut a new crut had been abandoned, and it was accepted by all that a vast quantity of water still remained in the old workings and was making its way into Diglake pit, and that hopes of finding anyone alive now were practically nil. At eleven o'clock that evening it was estimated that 20 tons of water per minute were still rushing through the pit. Mr Watts, the manager, stated that it would be a matter of months before the debris was removed and the bodies recovered.

Friday - Day Five

By Friday morning, most of the crowd waiting at the pit head had disappeared. The pumps were raising 300 gallons of water per minute, yet still the water level failed to drop. Work to clear the debris continued into the afternoon.

Saturday - Day Six

This morning, a telegram was issued by the pit management to the effect that work to clear the blockage underground was being called off. It was felt that it was "cruelly wicked" to ask the men to continue working in such conditions any longer, particularly since the threat of gas had joined with the possibility of a sudden roof fall or inrush of water claiming yet more lives. Pumping would continue, but all work undergound would cease.
On Saturday evening, ten more pit horses were brought to the surface, as well as a cat and two kittens.
The railway line some 500 yards from Audley Station, next to Diglake Colliery, was sinking, as a consequence of the collapse of one of the old pits which was pouring its water into Diglake.

Whether or not the 40 or so men trapped underground in the East 7 and 10 Foot seams were still alive, no-one will ever know. In the 1860s during a flood at Boyles Hall Colliery (of which one shaft now formed Shaft No 3 of Diglake Colliery) a man had survived for three days underground - by consuming his supply of candles. This man's name was Sproston - possibly John Sproston, Diglake undermanager.