Fleets Colliery inrush, 1929

On Friday 1 March 1929 a shot fired to hole into a disused working above Fleets No. 1 Pit, Tranent, released a torrent of water and black damp. George Johnstone, 27, waded back through water to his chin to warn fifty men working deeper in. All were brought out alive that afternoon. The company's officials were later prosecuted.

Cause

A shot fired to hole through into disused workings above released the water and black damp held in them; no boreholes had been kept ahead of the drift.

What happened

George Johnstone and his neighbour John Harkness were driving a cross-measure drift to link their road with a disused one directly above. They fired the shot just before the morning break. A blast of air followed, then a rush of water, and almost at once a heavy volume of black damp. The two could have escaped, though up to the waist in water, but about fifty men were working some three-quarters of a mile from the pit bottom and knew nothing of it.

Told by his mate that he would be lost too, Johnstone went in. He held an overhead insulated cable against the current, with the water almost at his mouth, until the road divided and the level dropped. He found the men unaware of any danger. By then the way to the pit bottom was cut off. A boy of sixteen remembered an old road to a higher seam, but it was blocked by a fall, and several other old roads proved impassable. At last they found a hole through a roof fall. Working in relays, they widened it until rescuers on the far side could pull them through. The men had been in peril for five hours, and it was about 5 p.m., seven hours after the inrush, when they reached their rescuers.

Rescue & recovery

The trapped men escaped themselves by enlarging a hole in a roof fall, in relays, until workmen who had come looking for them could pull them through. They then clawed through further falls almost a mile to safety.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

In October 1929 two agents of the Edinburgh Collieries Company, Gilbert Rowan and Albert Llewellyn Brayne, and the under-manager, David Livingstone, were prosecuted at Haddington Sheriff Court. The charge was failing to examine the disused workings, or to keep boreholes ahead and in flank of the drift, between December 1928 and March 1929. The defence argued that a departmental committee had found Section 68 of the Mines Act inadequate. Sheriff Jamieson found Livingstone not guilty and Rowan and Brayne guilty of technical offences, but dismissed them, and both sides gave notice of appeal by stated case.

Memorials & commemoration

Johnstone received a Carnegie award, the Order of St John and a medal for Industrial Heroism, after the East Lothian Education Authority commended him in March 1929. In October 2012 the building housing Tranent's new library was named the George Johnstone Centre in his honour.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• On 1 March 1929 a shot holing into disused workings above Fleets No. 1 Pit let in a torrent of water and black damp. ^1,2
• George Johnstone went back through the water to warn about fifty men, who escaped after five hours through a hole in a roof fall. ^1,2
• Two company agents were found guilty of technical offences and the under-manager not guilty at Haddington Sheriff Court in October 1929. ²
• Johnstone received a Carnegie award, the Order of St John and a medal for Industrial Heroism. ¹

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

• Drift (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the cause: “…and black damp held in them; no boreholes had been kept ahead of the drift.”
• Inrush (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…peril for five hours, and it was about 5 p.m., seven hours after the inrush, when they reached their rescuers.”
• Level (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…with the water almost at his mouth, until the road divided and the level dropped. He found the men unaware of any danger. By then the way to…”
• Roof Fall (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the narrative: “…old roads proved impassable. At last they found a hole through a roof fall. Working in relays, they widened it until rescuers on the far side…”

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Sources

1. (secondary) Looking back: the hero who risked his life to save miners, 90 years ago - East Lothian Courier — East Lothian Courier
2. (secondary) Accidents 1921-1930 — Scottish Mining Website

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026