Looking back with Ian Scott on the Redding Pit Disaster

Early in the morning a huge rush of water burst through a stone dyke within No 23 pit flooding the workings and carrying away most of the men who been stripping coal from the wall which had been protecting them from the accumulated water from abandoned pits further to the south. As the water poured in through the roads and air ways, pumps were overwhelmed, lamps extinguished and air fans closed down.

At the pit bottom 200 feet below men raced to reach the cages that would take them to safety but before long this exit was cut off by the rapid rise in the level of the water. Many men were drowned.

Higher up the instructions passed via telephone and notes told the survivors to make their way to the only possible exit. This was a disused shaft called the ‘gutterhole’ which remained clear of the rising tide of water.

It was a desperate struggle. The man were exhausted, wading through the ice cold rushing water as it tried to carry them back into the pit. They had difficulty breathing as the deadly, smothering blackdamp began to fill the passages through which they had to dig a path often with their bare hands. Another small disaster lay in their path as a deluge of water from the gutterhole scattered the men. Although a few were lost in that moment 21 fought their way back to the shaft.

On the surface the rescue brigades along with hundreds of other miners, firemen and the general public began the formidable task of opening up the gutterhole. By the mid morning they had rigged up pumps and lifting equipment and, after intense work above and below, the trapped men felt the fresh air and heard the voices of the rescuers from above. One by one they were lifted to the surface in ‘kettles’ to the cheers or relief from the gathered crowds.

Now with the way open the rescue brigades descended with their digging and blasting equipment to find the others.

As I described last week it was ten days before the last five men to survive were discovered and brought to the surface. The search was now all about recovering bodies and, as the water subsided, most were found.

In late November came a shocking discovery. Eleven men had found their way to a dry part of the pit where nobody thought it possible to reach. There they lay until overcome by starvation and lack of oxygen though some had lived for many days. Time enough to realise that they were lost, and to write notes to their families. These are among the most moving and heart breaking words I have ever read – the effect they had on loved ones is hard to imagine. The body of one more man, James Cochrane, was found in early December - the 40th man on the 40th day of the rescue operation.

The pit re-opened just three months later and continued in production until 1958. Today’s new memorial which builds on those raised in 1980 and 2002, is a beautiful tribute to the men, to those who fought to save them and to the sorrowing families they left behind.