From the Dover Telegraph and Cinque Ports General Advertiser, Saturday, 5 July, 1845. Price 5d.

CORONER'S INQUEST

On Thursday, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, an inquest was held at the “Four Porters” public-house, before G. T. Thompson, Esq., Coroner for the borough, to enquire into the circumstances attending the death of Joseph Richards, labourer, employed in excavating at the Gas Works. The Jury having been sworn, they proceeded to view the body, and on their return the following evidence was adduced:-

James Nash:- I am a bricklayer, and was employed by the Dover Gas Company to make a cave in the cliff. I engaged the deceased to do the work. At the time I engaged him he said he knew how to do it, adding that he had been employed in the railway tunnels for two or three years. He commenced work about 10 o'clock yesterday (Wednesday) morning, and was taken away from it for a short time by Mr. Peake. At about 20 minutes to 12, while deceased was engaged in excavating beneath the chalk, some 9 or 10 inches in, a large piece fell forward, and struck him on the side of the head, and remained lying on him. It took five men to raise the chalk from deceased, and as soon as we moved it the blood began to flow. We then lifted him up, and found that he was dead. I did not apprehend any danger from the chalk.

John Dowle:- I am a gas fitter to the Dover Gas Company. I saw the chalk fall upon the deceased; it was yesterday morning between 11 and 12 o'clock. The deceased was engaged digging a cave; he was digging from the base, and had got in about 18 inches when the piece of chalk fell upon him, and crushed him to the earth. There were five of us looking on at the time, viz.- William Dowle, James Nash, Thomas Star, Thomas Whiting, and myself. The chalk was shored by a piece of timber, which was placed above the mass that fell; and it had no other support. I did not hear Nash give any directions to deceased respecting the cave, except that in the morning he told him it was to be 8 or 10 feet in length, and as high as a man might stand upright in. the deceased was a labourer, and about 26 years of age.

The Coroner having consulted the Jury as to the necessity of calling the other parties who were present when the accident occurred, the Jury were of opinion that it was unnecessary, and, after a brief deliberation, returned a verdict of “Accidental Death,” caused by the falling of a piece of chalk while the deceased was at work.

From the Dover Telegraph and Cinque Ports General Advertiser, Saturday, 16 May, 1846. Price 5d.

MELANCHOLY AND FATAL ACCIDENT TO MR A F BAZELY

Great excitement was caused on Tuesday afternoon, by a report that the tiller and part of the gear of the boat belonging to Mr. Bazely had been picked up in the bay. That gentleman having left the shore about 12 for a sail, the greatest anxiety was manifested as to his fate. Shortly after six, two boats were seen approaching the bay, with something in tow, which proved to be Mr. Bazely's galley, and which had been found sunk off the South Foreland Lights. Two galleys immediately rowed to the spot, and at eight o'clock one returned with the body of Mr. Bazley, which had been discovered on the rocks. The body was then conveyed to the receiving house of the Royal Humane Society.

INQUEST ON THE BODY

On Wednesday afternoon an inquest was held on the body, at the “Four Porters Inn,” before G. T. Thompson, Esq., Coroner for the Borough. The Jury having been appointed Mr. Henry Griggs foreman, proceeded to view the body, and on their return the following evidence was given:-

Cullen Mash, of the Adelaide Baths, was the first witness called, who deposed: Deceased had a small galley, called the Alert. Yesterday, about 12 o'clock, he came down to launch the boat. On first launching she filled, and deceased fell in the water. There was very little sea running. He went home and changed his clothes. He returned, and then went off. He carried a lug sail. The weather was fine, with a fresh easterly breeze. I saw the boat several times afterwards, and at tem minutes past two, saw her running free before the wind off the Foreland Lights. He said he should return at three o'clock, but by his not doing so, I began to get uneasy, and about five a boatman named Spice landed from the bay, and brought me a tiller, which I recognised as the one belonging to deceased's boat, and I apprehended an accident had occurred. I made enquiry of the coast guard and others, if they had seen the galley, and shortly afterwards saw two stalker punts rowing towards some object off the cobbler rocks, and on looking through a glass, saw they were weighing a boat, and they then made for the bay. I waited till they arrived, and finding they had not seen the body, I went with four men in a galley, and proceeded towards Langdon Bay. When near the spot where the boat was found, I saw body of the deceased lying on the rocks. I hailed some boys who were on the shore, and pointed out to them where the body lay. We then rowed up a sand gulley, and got the body on board. We then returned to Dover, and took the body to the Humane Society's receiving house. As far as I can ascertain, the body was from 30 to 40 yards from where the boat sunk. When I first saw the body, I noticed a severe wound over the left eye. When the boat was brought on shore, I found the sheet fast with four or five turns round the cleat on the larboard quarter. With the wind as it was yesterday, and the course he was steering, a puff from the top of the cliff would be likely to lay the sail aback, and upset the boat. On taking his watch from his pocket, I found it stopped at a quarter past two o'clock. When we got the body on board, it would not have been prudent to go round the foreland into St. Margaret's Bay, as the wind was fresh, and a strong ebb tide running.

James Betts deposed: Yesterday evening I was going stalkering, with four other men, and just this side of Langdon stairs, I saw the body of a man; it was about half way between the beach and the sea; we lifted it up, and carried it a short distance. We were then hailed from a galley, which rowed into Langdon Bay, and took the body on board.

Stephen Pilcher, fisherman, deposed: Yesterday afternoon about two o'clock, while hauling up our lobster pots, deceased passed close to us in his boat, and wished us good day. We were about a quarter of a mile from the shore off the Foreland lights. He was running before the wind on the starboard tack. The wind was very puffy from the hollow of the cliff. About ten minutes after we missed the boat; but seeing another boat off the shore, we supposed it was his, and that he had stood off. About five o'clock, on returning home, we saw the top of the mast out of the water. On going nearer we found a sail was attached. The halyards were fast, by which we weighed the boat, and towed it to Dover. I then returned to the rocks, where I found Betts and others. We there found the body lying on the rocks. Not more than two or three yards from where we had weighed the boat. The sheet and halyards were fast, and my impression is, that he was struck by the boat in going down.

Mr. Marsh said, a report being circulated that deceased took off a bottle of liquor with him, he wished to contradict it. All he took was a bottle of water, which was filled at the baths, and which was found, half emptied, under the stern sheets of the boat when brought on shore.

The foreman observed that from the evidence there could be little doubt that the boat was caught by a sudden puff of wind, and, the sheet being fast, capsized. From there being a severe wound on deceased's forehead, he (the foreman) believed that he fell against the gunwale of the boat, and was stunned; otherwise, being an excellent swimmer, he could have reached the shore without difficulty.

The Jury then, after a short consultation, returned a verdict, that deceased was drowned from the accidental capsizing of his boat.

Deceased was the son of the late Captain Henry Bazely, post captain in the Royal Navy, and nephew to the late Rear-Admiral John Bazely.

From the Dover Telegraph and Cinque Ports General Advertiser, Saturday, 23 May, 1846. Price 5d.

FUNERAL OF MR BAZELY

The remains of the late Mr. A. F. Bazely, whose melancholy death, arising from the upsetting of his boat, we recorded in our last, were on Wednesday interred in a brick grave adjoining the family vault in St. Mary's churchyard. Himself a sailor ardently attached to his profession, and a member of a family distinguished in the naval service, his oft-expressed wish, while living, was carried out at his funeral. The coffin contained the body, covered with the Union Jack, was borne to the grave of six Dover boatmen, and the pall supported by men of the Pier Coast Guard station, who, with the commander, Lieutenant Pearson, R.N. volunteered their services. The funeral was also attended by the Rev. T. Bazely and the members of the family, Lewis Stride, Esq., John Jeken, Esq., Messrs. Morris and Darwell, and many other friends of the deceased.

From the Dover Telegraph and Cinque Ports General Advertiser, Saturday 23 October, 1858.

CORONER'S INQUEST

On Monday evening last, at seven o'clock, a jury was empannelled at the "Four Porters Inn," before G. T. Thompson Esq., Coroner of the Borough, to investigate the circumstances attending the death of Israel Arnold, a labourer, who was killed by the fall of a block of chalk in a cave belonging to the Dover Gas Company. Mr. Robert Norman was chosen foreman of the jury, and the following evidence was elicited:-

Henry Stokes, labourer, Buckland - About a fortnight ago, I and Joseph Knott were engaged by Mr. Jones to enlarge a cave at the Dover Gas Works. From that time up to the present I have worked in the cave, and on Friday afternoon last we reached to a part in which there was a block of chalk in danger of falling. I accordingly shored it, and by since working have reached about ten feet beyond it. On Saturday evening last we struck the shores, with the intent that if it should fall it might do so on Sunday. On resuming my work on Monday morning I examined the block, and found that its position was not altered, and I then looked upon it as being quite safe. I continued my work till, I believe, about nine o'clock, when the deceased and his brother (Michael Arnold) came into the cave, and in conversation said that they were engaged to trim a cargo of coals for the Gas Works. They stopped in the cave for a short time, during which the deceased took my pick, and used it for a few moments. On returning it he went and stood by close by my mate, Joseph Knott. I continued on with my work until I heard a cry of "Look up," when I ran farther in the cave, but the deceased, in endeavouring to get out of the cave, was caught beneath the heavy block of chalk, as in a sitting position, with his head between his knees. I and Knott ran to his assistance, and released him, possibly in about five minutes. He was not then dead, in insensible, and with but little motion. A surgeon was sent for, and in a short time one came, and pronounced him dead. He was then laid on a stretcher, and removed to the room in which he now lies. I estimate the weight of the chalk to be about three tons.

Only one other witness was sworn, viz., Joseph Knott, the companion of Stokes in the enlargement of the cave. his evidence was principally confirmatory, and as follows:- While at work on Friday, I noticed a block of chalk that looked dangerous, and placed timber under it as a shore. The timber was removed on Saturday night, but on Monday the block had neither fallen nor sunk, and then considering it safe I trimmed it across, it being about seven feet long. During the morning deceased and his brother came in, and after they had been there a short time my attention was attracted by some loose chalk running from the block, and I directly cried out "Look up," when Stokes and the deceased's brother stepped farther into the cave, and the deceased, in endeavouring to get out of the cave, was buried beneath the heavy mass of chalk. The deceased was about three feet from me when the alarm was given. We immediately rendered assistance, and released him, I think in less than ten minutes, when a surgeon was sent for, and on his arrival, which was in twenty minutes from the time the sad occurrence took place, he pronounced deceased to be dead. The age of deceased was forty-one years.

By the Foreman:- Mr. Jones had often cautioned us to be careful, and we are allowed whatever timber is necessary for shoring.

By a Juror:- Mr. Jones was in the cave shortly before the occurrence, about nine o'clock, when he said that the block of chalk, in his opinion, was dangerous; but I told him that I had tried it, and saw no danger.

Mr. H. R. Jones was called before the jury, but not sworn. From the statement made by him, it was shown that all the precaution necessary had been taken in giving instructions to the parties who were employed to enlarge the cave.

The jury, after a moment's consultation, recorded that deceased was accidentally killed by the falling of a block of chalk.

The deceased, who was a hard-working man, was a granger of the excavators engaged in the Dover Drainage Works, and we believe he has left a widow and large family without any means of support.