6. A Dangerous Occupation
I next went to work at a sinking pit. Whitehaven Colliery Company were sinking Lady Smith. I worked here for about two years and unfortunately was an eye witness to a very serious accident by the shaft side falling, or caving, in. We were bricking and our scaffold was slung from the brickwork we were putting in. The side of the pit above us gave way and the great quantity of stuff that fell on the scaffold broke it down. We were 60 ft. from the bottom and seven men down the pit. Luckily myself and two others managed to cling to the kibble and save our lives.
There were, besides myself, W. and Robert Rickerby saved. The poor fellows who lost their lives were P. Kuisella, Cleater Moor, B. Gribbon, Whitehaven, J. Currie of Cleator and the chargeman, J. Beastley. This was something that impressed my memory in a way I can never forget. I remember on reaching home that night my dear wife was waiting for me. I was half on hour late.
She said to me "How late you are, Jack." For answer I took off my cap, knelt by a chair and thanked God for allowing me to come home again. Yes, these are things that make a man feel, and think, very seriously and are not easy to forget. At the same time they bring even a young wife and mother face to face with the stern realities of life and what might have been. The wife of a miner, either coal or iron ore, must often have very poignant thoughts running through her mind while her husband is at work. Many a time I should think they silently sit and think these thoughts over, but each day on his return it is all forgotten and does not recur until the morrow. But she soon becomes used to his daily absence and takes it as a matter of course. She has her children playing about the house. These and the return of her husband from work are the centre of all her thoughts.
But what must it be to the poor Mother when her loved one is one of the unfortunate ones? I wonder how she bears up under the blow? But she must. The little ones need sustaining and she often is proved a veritable Hercules in this effort and although supposed to be the weaker of the two she can always face the world and all its opposition better than the man. I often wonder about the days when there was no compensation for loss of life, when if she would have one a grateful employer would give her a mangle to earn a bit of bread for her orphan family. However, such is the life of the man who works for his bread in the bowels of the earth.
The bodies of our comrades and workmates were eventually brought up and in due time buried. I went back to work a week later. All this bad side of the pit had been barricaded up with timber, bags of hay and horse manure, - anything to stop the stuff from running. It ran to the extent of about 100 tons from this side of the shaft. This always makes falls in pits highly dangerous, where it has made a lot of room. It is not near so bad when it is confined to a small space and, as I have said, we were 60 ft. from the bottom. The job had to be done very carefully. The manager's name was Redshaw and he gave me charge of the job. I had with me a sinker, - Rickerby, two joiners, Dick Graham and W. Moore, a brick-layer, John Glaister. Mr. Redshaw told us to make a good job of it if it cost £5 a brick.
There was a lump of bad rock above this fall. I would estimate its weight at 50 tons. It gaped about ½" when we started. We built brick pillars underneath it, four of them, and by the time we got it secured it gaped 6". Once we got the pillars pinned up to it it was secure and I can say we mode a good job. If the shaft were to be examined the only thing that can be found is that the circle is not quite true for a few feet but it is only a matter of a few inches at the worst part and that only extends upwards for a few feet.
In due time the job was completed and we resumed the sinking operation again. I continued in charge of one shift for a time. Then I went back as before and worked there until the shaft was down and the drift towards the coal face driven some distance.
I then left and came to Egremont to help to sink the Elder Pit, or what is more commonly called, Ore Gill. It would be truer if it had been named Water Gill. It was the wettest shaft that ever was sunk in the country. Long before we were 50 fathoms we were pumping 1,000 gallons per minute. I can recall many a perishing. At one time I had six special pumps of one kind or another hanging over my head and this is anything but a desirable position to be working in. You are always at the mercy of someone letting something fall and a screw key need not fall very far to deprive a man of his life. However, man can soon adapt himself to any kind of condition at work and he becomes quite familiar with the dangers, and there are many in the sinking of a pit.
When we were down about 20 fathoms I was talking to a young fellow named R. Ashburner and a small piece of stone came back from the ascending kibble and smashed his head in. Poor fellow, he breathed for about on hour. He was a fine young man, about 6 ft. tall and about 12 stone. I had known him all his life.
Anyhow, the water difficulty remained and, of course, retarded to a great extent the sinking operation. It is always more difficult to cope with the water in a shaft than it is with ground. The company, the late Wyndham Mining Company, carried on very resolutely and it must have been very costly indeed. However, at 50 fathoms they gave it up for a time. It then stood three years and then they resumed again. I had, by then, left their employ. They carried it to a depth of over 200 fathoms and all the time had to deal with this huge amount of water. It was a great accomplishment, both for the men who worked on it and the company, one they might justly feel proud of.
After leaving Ore Gill I worked for them at their Falcon Pit and always found the Wyndham Mining Company a good company to work for. They certainly deserved to be more successful than they were. However, I left them and went to work for the Palla Flat Company at Bigrigg and I remained there until it ceased. Here I sank the No. 3 shaft or, it would be more correct to say, I resank it. It was only 45 fathoms deep and I sank it to just over 100 fathoms. This is the only shaft I worked in where someone did not lose his life. It turned out badly and after two or three years they gave it up. I had then been working at Palla Flat a good few years and I was very sorry when it ceased.
I was out of work about a fortnight before going to work for the Town Head Mining Company. This was a small company, the Director of which was the late J.B. Kitchen. He had also been the Manager of the Palla Flat Co. for a good many years and I found him a good man to work for. I consider him to be the most efficient man for the position he occupied that the mines of West Cumberland have ever had. I claim to have had a very varied experience in mining and I know he understood everything about mining, winding engines and pumps, in fact everything. He could not only tell you to do a job but if you did not know how to do it he could tell you how to do it. He certainly was the only manager that I have met who had those qualifications. Too often the men occupying these positions have just the qualifications of an ordinary iron ore miner and, in my opinion, that is certainly not all that should be required. They get shuffled through by the experience of someone they get to work for them. Such men are just made into a cat's paw. Mr. Kitchen need not do this. When he found men who had the ability to do the work he required of them he always gave them credit for what they had done and always showed his appreciation. There are far too few men like him. I could have worked for him all the days of my life and it would have been a pleasure to do so.
However, as I said above, I went to work at Town Head and if I had the good fortune to refer to Mr. Kitchen as a good master it is now my misfortune to refer to this boss as the most bare faced that I met. His name was J. Marsh. He, to me, proved both a rogue and a thief. This is rather strong language to have to use about any man and I would rather I had been able to have said something to his credit but as I am only concerned here with my true experience of life I must mete out to all the measure of praise they are honestly entitled to, and this is his just apportionment. I proved him, to his face, to be both. Suffice it to say I only worked for him for two months and then left and went to work at the Beckermet, or Winscales, Mining Company.