The empty tubs were battered in all sorts of fantastic shapes so that they were hardly recognisable as tubs. To make matters worse for the recovery men the water began to rise in the pit bottom because the pumps had been smashed.

It was decided to descend by way of the up cast shaft. Norton No.1 team, captained by Mr. A. Lovatt, descended the pit. They were told to make a survey of the pit bottom and come up within an hour. This they did and the captain made an excellent, clear, and concise report of the conditions, despite frequently meeting fresh dangers and difficulties, most of the time being knee deep in water.

This report enabled the officials to determine the origin of the explosion, which, having begun in the Coxshead seam, with a fire-ball searing up a 1 in 3 dip and about 800 yards in length hitting the shaft bottom with vicious savagery; any haulage lads, who would normally have been there, would have been blown to pieces. It was certain that a fire was burning in one of the goafs of this seam.

Mr. Johnstone and the other inspectors, who had had experience of other explosions, decided with the rest of the group, that intense heat, the build up of noxious gases, the possibility of a further explosion and the rumblings of more roof falls precluded further investigation. They ordered the fan to be stopped; the mine must be sealed off hermetically for at least 48 hours.

The sealing consisted of a wooden platform covered with canvas over which loads of sand were piled up to make the shafts air-tight. A few small tubes fitted with plugs were fixed in for the purpose of taking samples of air, temperature and pressure of air. By this time crowds around the colliery had increased. The site of the tomb-like mounds of sand and their dreadful implications of what might have been. The prospect of unemployment and no wages were not inductive to pleasure.

Night fell on Norton colliery, a miserable night. Men still stood around discussing the day’s disaster, but little by little they all dispersed homeward.

It remained sealed till 2nd March when the down cast shaft was re-opened. After sealing off the dips the fan was started on 9th March.

Permanent stoppings were erected in No.2 South level district. The area on the inbye side of these stoppings was not explored and the actual point of origin of the explosion was therefore not discovered.

A week later, most of the rescue brigades in the district were summoned, and the recovery of the pit was commenced.

Before long the shopkeepers were obliged to conduct their business on a “cash only” basis. Shops in Smallthorne, Bradeley, Norton and elsewhere displayed the notice: “Please don’t ask for credit. It is dead. Bad times have killed it.” Relief centres were set up, soup kitchens and other means of subsistence were doing their best to ease the extreme cases.

Meanwhile repair work was in full swing underground. Water was cleared out of the pit. The pit bottom was put into temporary repair so that the cage could be lowered to the bottom level. The pace of the repair work was slow. Replacing ventilation doors, rebuilding brick stoppings, which were reduced to rubble by the force of the explosion, had to be done by men wearing oxygen-breathing apparatus.

All the pit ponies, 50 in number, were dead and had to be rolled into wagons to be taken out of the pit and thence to Beeston’s knacker yard at the junction of Bellerton Lane and Leek New-road, where Joe Ball was sadly searching for his pony, Major.