happily i have never had to go down a mine ......i would not handle that easily .....but needs must sometimes ... it is not something i would be happy at....although there were miners in our family ....indeed my uncle tony out of whitburn colliery telling me they could hear the ships props or engines down that pit.....once on a tanker up the gulf after we had cleaned tanks a couple of us asked permission toswim in the ballast ..the mate sayd no prob....at your own risk ....down we went ...a great relief as it was august time and no air con ......after a day or so one or two others went in from time to time .....a shields man of west indian birth .... george was a good mate ....but could not swim ....i cajoled him put your life jacket on come down it is good for cooling off ...if the ship was rolling it was quite a swell down there ......but black as a nuns habit ......a smart ass came along and dropped the lid .....that was not a good place i could not find the tank entrance in the dark george started to wobble get me out etc ....i was not pleased iether ....after i suppose what seemed like an hour but was probably 5 or 6 minutes an ab opened the lid and we scrambled out ...he was laughing ...i smacked him so hard i thought i had broken his jaw ...george then started kicking the crap out him ....someone on the bridge shouted through a trumpet .to stop george was a gonner ...end of the story of course no more swimming in the tanks .....do recall when coming out being covered often with a sheen of oil etc ....never new of carcigonics in them days ...but it did make me think in latter years R683532