Naval Colliery shaft accident, 1893

A cage carrying men to clear a fouled rope in the Naval Colliery shaft at Penygraig struck the obstruction and overturned on 14 December 1893; three or four men were killed.

Cause

A haulage rope lowered down the shaft fouled a guide rope; the cage sent down to clear it struck the obstruction and overturned.

What happened

Late on Thursday 14 December 1893 a haulage rope being let down the 440-yard shaft at Naval Colliery, Penygraig, became tangled with a guide rope and blocked the shaft. Five men and a boy went down on the cage to free it, four of them standing on top. When the cage met the obstruction it struck with great violence and tipped over. The night overman, John Way, grabbed a guide rope; three men were thrown off and fell about 220 yards down the shaft.

The blacksmith Thomas Isaac and a boy, Obed Foster, saved themselves by gripping the cage's side rails while it hung tilted against the ropes, with the winding rope coiling down on top of it, until it came to rest near the Four Feet landing. The dead were William Rogers, 36, a blacksmith or shoer with four children, Bertie Horton or Orton, 20, married four months, and Henry Avery, a striker; Welsh Coal Mines counts John Way among the dead as well.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Three were killed: William Rogers, a shoer, and Bertie Horton and Henry Avery, strikers. (disputed) ¹
• Four were killed, the night overman John Way among them. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Men riding on top of a cage were thrown down the Naval Colliery shaft on 14 December 1893. ^1,2
• Three were killed: William Rogers, a shoer, and Bertie Horton and Henry Avery, strikers. (disputed) ¹
• Four were killed, the night overman John Way among them. (disputed) ²
• The cage struck a haulage rope that had become entangled with a guide rope in the shaft and overturned. ²

Related terminology

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

• Cage (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the summary: “A cage carrying men to clear a fouled rope in the Naval Colliery shaft at…”
• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “A cage carrying men to clear a fouled rope in the Naval Colliery shaft at Penygraig struck the obstruction and overturned on 14…”
• Haulage (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the cause: “A haulage rope lowered down the shaft fouled a guide rope; the cage sent down…”
• Overman (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…obstruction it struck with great violence and tipped over. The night overman, John Way, grabbed a guide rope; three men were thrown off and fell…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the summary: “A cage carrying men to clear a fouled rope in the Naval Colliery shaft at Penygraig struck the obstruction and overturned on 14 December…”

Sources

1. (secondary) Naval Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines fatalities, 1893 — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 7 October 2026 · Last researched: 7 October 2026