Harriseahead Pit Disaster
Harriseahead Inrush of Water, March 1924
The headline in the local newspaper read; Pit Flooded at Harriseahead. Lucky Escape of 72 Miners.
Harriseahead colliery is situated between Packmoor and Mow Cop, it was flooded
on Monday and 72 miners who were at work below ground at the time had an extraordinarily
lucky escape. There was an exciting scene as the men struggled through the
breast-high water towards the shaft bottom and drawn to the surface. Another
17 or 18 made their way out by a footway or drift.
But for the remarkable courage and coolness displayed by the whole of the
men in the face of a dangerous situation. It is probable that the accident
would have been attended by loss of life. As it was, all the men were got
safely out of the pit, without any panic and within an hour of the inundation.
It was about the middle of the morning shift that the inrush of water occurred. There are about 150 miners employed at the Harriseahead colliery, and three shifts are worked, the morning shift being the largest.
From some cause, which has not yet been determined there was
a sudden inrush of water and owing to the steep gradients of the workings,
it poured with great force to the pit bottom, and quickly rose to a height
of four feet.
An alarm was immediately raised, and as word of the flooding was quickly passed
from mouth to mouth, the men were advised to remain calm and to make their
way with all practicable speed to the cage. They had to struggle through the
still rising flood to the cage where they were drawn up without mishap.
The men presented a bedraggled and pitiable sight as they emerged from the
cage at the top, but they were all cheerful and glad to have come out without
being cut off by the water. They were given a change of clothing or hurried
off to their homes.
The depth of the pit is about 260 yards. It is evident that close to one of
the working places, there had accumulated a considerable "pocket" of water,
the presence of which had not been suspected. Water is still running into
the pit bottom and although pumping has been proceeding since Tuesday morning,
there still has not been any appreciable reduction so far as the depth of
water. Probably at least a week will elapse before the water is removed, meanwhile,
the pit is completely stopped.
One man gave a graphic account to the local newspaper, he said;
"I was in my working place, when suddenly I heard a strange rumbling sound.
I concluded it was a rush of water somewhere. Directly afterwards all the
men were warned to leave the pit immediately and to do so as calmly as possible.
We all realised then that the pit was becoming flooded, and in order to save
ourselves from being cut off, as we did not know the depth of the flood at
the time, we hurried as quickly as possible towards the cage. It was a difficult
job to get there, as we had to fight our way through the water, which in my
case was up to my armpits. I am glad to say that there was no loss of life,
but it was one of the luckiest escapes I have ever known in the pit, and I
have been a miner for a good many years."
Heroes Honoured
In February 1925 at the Victoria Hall, Kidsgrove, in the presence of local
dignitaries and inhabitants of the town and district, awards for bravery and
gallant conduct on the occasion of the flooding of Harriseahead collery on
March 10th last were made to Mr. Paling Baker
and Mr. Harry Wilson.
At great personal risk, the two men rescued Edwin Booth of Mow Cop who was working in a distant part of the mine when the inrush of water occurred. It was necessary to wade breast deep through the rising water to effect a rescue.
The award consisted of a bronze medal and a certificate of the Order of Industrial Heroism (instituted by the "Daily Herald") to each of the two men and also a certificate to each of the two men from the Carnegie Hero Fund Trust, which was founded in September 1908. Mr. Sam Finney, (Secretary of the North Stafford Miners Federation) presided.
After briefly referring to the incident for which the awards were to be made,he said they were very thankful that the lives of the men at Harriseahead colliery were not lost in the flood which took place, and their hearts were overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness to the two men whom they had met to honour that evening.
The certificates were worded as follows:
"Order of Industrial Heroism presented as a mark of respect and admiration
to a brave man who in a moment of peril thought more of others than of himself."
Subsequently Mr. Sam Finney presented other certificates framed in oak, awarded
to Messrs Baker and Wilson by the trustees of the Carnegie Hero Fund Trust,
which read as follows:
Presented by the trustees in recognition of heroic endeavours to save human
life March 10th 1924.
"He serves God best who most nobly serves humanity."
