Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Trials of Welsh and Mixed Coals . . .

By the late 1850s, most of the Admiralty's coal requirements were obtained from Welsh collieries, but the coal owners of the north of England were understandably reluctant to accept the Beche-Playfair trials as final. They criticised the exclusive use of Welsh coal because of its friability, a characteristic which resulted in the creation of substantial amounts of small coal during its conveyance to overseas depots.

The Admiralty responded by undertaking a range of dockyard tests during the early 1860s: these indicated that burning north country coal in combination with Welsh produced excellent results in terms of utilising Welsh small. The practice therefore appeared to commend itself on grounds of economy. The possibility that fuelling arrangements involving a mixture of coals might prove cumbersome was not considered a serious drawback:

there would be no difficulty in coaling a ship with the two descriptions of coal; for the bunkers of one side of her might be filled with north country coal, and those of the other side with Welsh coal, and then when required to be used in the stokehold, equal quantities could be taken from each side of the ship at the same time and mixed for use at the furnace mouth.

As a result of the new trials, the fleet was instructed to use a fuel mixture containing one-third to one-half Newcastle, Hartley and Wallsend coals, though by the end of the 1860's the proportion of north country coals was fixed at one-third.

Practical experience of the use of mixed coals at sea proved unfavourable and the reports from naval officers reflected this fact. The possible sacrifice of operational efficiency to economy appears to have been particularly resented. Thus the officer commanding the First Reserve Squadron argued strongly that:

in the important article of coal, the question of price should be set on one side, and the officers who are to command the fleet against the enemy, and their captains, should alone be considered the judges of the quality of the coal with which they are to drive the engines of their ships.