Eye Magic by Hewetson Sarah

Author:Hewetson, Sarah [Hewetson, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307809766
Amazon: 0307809765
Goodreads: 3119384
Publisher: Golden Books Publishing Company, Inc.
Published: 1994-08-15T07:00:00+00:00

The report said that “general laughter relieved the tension in the room,” preparing the way for the most expert and indisputable witness in the realm.

CORONER: The inquest welcomes the comments of Benjamin Thicknesse, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Mines.

THICKNESSE: I have listened to the testimony delivered today. I have studied the ventilation map and cross-section details of the Hannay pit. I have some thoughts and conclusions that duty and conscience urge me to share.

First, I offer the sympathy of the Queen and the royal family. A disaster on a scale of the Hannay explosion touches the entire nation. Her Majesty mourns with you.

Second, that the mining of deep coal is the most hazardous occupation short of war, has been and likely always will be.

Third, that the prompt and intelligent actions of the underlooker George Battie and the rescuers he led were the salvation of numerous miners overcome by afterdamp. The swift bricking up of a second gas leak by Battie, Smallbone and Jaxon possibly stanched a second disaster.

Fourth, I cannot take issue with the opinions of any of the expert witnesses. They may all be right, they may all be wrong. A miner might have rashly opened his lamp to light his pipe, but we will never know. A spark, a flame, a gunpowder tin may have contributed singly or collectively to the force of the explosion. The answer is buried at the coal face. Was ventilation sufficient to clear the gas? After all, fresh air had to travel down a full mile from the surface, and then circulate through eight miles of tunnels and cross tunnels. Based on safety standards as we currently know them, our calculations say that the ventilation was sufficient, yet a boy and his pony could have knocked one piece of canvas down and disrupted the whole carefully planned flow of air. It is a fact that the Lancashire coalfield is a “fiery” coalfield—that is, particularly given to the accumulation of explosive gases. This fact is exacerbated by another one. The deeper the coal, the more fiery the coal. Yet the deeper the coal, the harder the coal, making gunpowder more necessary.

Finally, there is one more element: coal itself. Coal dust that lingers in a tunnel atmosphere and reddens the miner’s eye and blackens his lung is, in proper ratio to oxygen, almost as explosive as gunpowder. This is, of course, a controversial point. No matter; one might ask how any man would chance work in subterranean chambers so fraught with known and unknown perils? How could any father kiss his children good-bye in the morning with the knowledge that by the afternoon they might be orphans?

This would, however, be an emotional and shortsighted response. It would bring British industry to a halt. Mills would lie empty, locomotives would stand and rust in their yards, ships would idle at their docks.

It is also an insult to science. British technology is improving every day. As knowledge increases, safety assuredly follows.

Finally, a single human error, one breach of orders, may well have been to blame for this catastrophe.

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