Wonderfull Balloon Ascents
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Fulgence Marion >> Wonderfull Balloon Ascents
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The first balloon that traversed the English channel was sent off
at Sandwich, in Kent, on the 22nd of February, 1784. It was five
feet in diameter, and was inflated with hydrogen gas. It rose
rapidly, and was carried toward France by a north-west wind. Two
hours and a half after it had been let off it was found in a
field about nine miles from Lille. The balloon carried a letter,
instructing the finder of the balloon to communicate with William
Boys, Esq., Sandwich, and to state where and at what time it was
found. This request was complied with.
On the 19th of February a similar balloon, five feet in diameter,
was sent up from Queen's College, Oxford. It was spherical, and
was made of Persian silk, coated with varnish. It was the first
balloon sent up from that city.
De Saussure makes mention, in a letter dated from Geneva, the
26th of March, 1784, of certain experiments made in that town
with the electricity of the atmosphere by means of fixed
balloons--i.e., balloons attached to the earth by ropes, which
gave forth sparks and positive electricity.
Mention is also made of a certain M. Argand, of Geneva, who had
the honour of making balloon experiments at Windsor in the
presence of King George III., Queen Charlotte, and the royal
family. About this time (1784) balloons became "the fashion,"
and frequent instances occur of their being raised by day and
night, by means of spirit-lamps, to the great delight of
multitudes of spectators.
A letter from Watt to Dr. Lind, of Windsor, dated from
Birmingham, 25th December, 1784, narrates an experiment made the
summer preceding with a balloon inflated Wit]l hydrogen. The
balloon was made of fine paper covered with a varnish of oil and
filled two-thirds with hydrogen gas, and one-third common air.
To the neck of the balloon was attached a sort of squib two feet
long, the fuse of which was ignited when the balloon was
inflated. The night was calm and dark, and a great multitude was
assembled to witness the ascent, which was accomplished with a
success that gave delight to all; for, at the end of six minutes
the fuse communicated with the squib, and the explosion was like
the sound of thunder. The men who saw it from a distance, but
were not present at its ascent, took it for a meteor. "Our
intention," says Watt, "was, if possible, to discover whether the
reverberating sound of thunder was due to echoes or to successive
explosions. The sound occasioned by the detonation of the
hydrogen gas of the balloon in this experiment, does not enable
us to form a definite judgment; all that we can do is to refer to
those who were near the balloon, and-who affirm that the sound
was like that of thunder."
Chapter II. Experiments and Studies--Blanchard at Paris--Guyton
de Morveau at Dijon.
The most popular name in aerostation during the Revolution and
the Consulate in France is, without doubt, that of Blanchard. We
have already referred to him in the chapter which treats of
experiments made prior to the discovery of Montgolfier, and we
now have to speak of his famous ascent from the Champ de Mars, on
the 2nd of March 1784, and of the ascents which followed.
We have seen that he constructed a sort of flying boat, a machine
furnished with oars and rigging, with which he managed to sustain
himself some moments in the air at the height of eighty feet.
This curious machine was exhibited in 1782 in the gardens of the
great hotel of the Rue Taranne. But a little time afterwards
Montgolfier's discoveries quite altered the conditions under
which the aerostatic art was to be pursued. It had no sooner
become known than it became public property. The idea was too
simple in its grandeur, and was of too easy a kind not to call up
a host of imitators. Of these Blanchard was one of the first;
but this mechanician was anxious to incorporate his own invention
with that of Montgolfier, and he arranged that on the 2nd of
March, 1784, he should make an ascent in what he still called his
"flying vessel," which he furnished with four wings.
Blanchard and his companion, Pesch, a Benedictine priest, were
prevented from going up in the balloon, as represented in our
illustration, which was drawn before the event it was intended to
commemorate. A certain Dupont de Chambon persisted in
accompanying the voyagers. Pushed back by them, he drew his
sword, leaped into the car or boat, wounded Blanchard, cut the
rigging, and broke the oars or wings. The aeronaut was
consequently compelled to have his machine partly re-fitted in
great haste, and in the course of a few hours he made the ascent
alone in the usual way. Blanchard should have known the
uselessness of oars, though he did not abandon their employment
in subsequent ascents. The Brothers Montgolfier had dreamed of
the employment of oars as a means of guidance, but had ultimately
rejected the idea. Joseph wrote to his brother Etienne, about
the end of the year 1783:
"For my sake, my good friend, reflect; calculate well before you
employ oars. Oars must either be great or small; if great, they
will be heavy; if small, it will be necessary to move them with
great rapidity. I know no sufficient means of guidance, except
in the knowledge of the different currents of air, of which it is
necessary to make a study; and these are generally regulated by
the elevation." The two brothers often recurred to this idea.
The pictures of the first ascent of Blanchard from the Champ de
Mars on the 2nd of March, 1784, in the presence of a vast
multitude, show us the oars and the mechanism of his
flying-machine fitted to a balloon. The design which we here
give seems to us deserving of being considered only as one of the
caricatures of the time, especially when we look at the personage
dressed in the fool's head-gear, who sits behind and accompanies
the triumphant ascent of the aeronaut with music.
It was not with this apparatus that Blanchard effected his
ascent, for we have seen that the gearing of his vessel was
broken by the infuriated Dupont de Chambon. Yet the aeronaut
pretends to have been, to some extent, assisted by his mechanical
contrivances. The following is his narrative:--
"I rose to a certain height over Plassy, and perceiving Villette,
which I did not despair of reaching in spite of the misfortune
that had happened to me, I attached a rope of my rigging to my
leg, not being able to make use of my left hand, which I had
wrapped in my handkerchief on account of the sword-wound it had
received. I fixed up a piece of cloth, and thus made a sort of
sail with which I hugged the wind. But the rays of the sun had
so heated and rarefied the inflammable air that soon I forgot my
rigging in thinking of the terrible danger that threatened me."
Going on to narrate the dangers that beset him, Blanchard
describes a number of most extraordinary experiences, which would
be better worthy of a place here if they were more like the
truth. His curious narrative is thus brought to a close:--
"Escaped from these impetuous and contrary winds, during which I
had felt a great degree of cold, I mounted perpendicularly. The
cold became excessive. Being hungry I ate a morsel of cake. I
wished to drink, but in searching the car nothing was to be seen
but the debris of bottles and glasses, which my assailant had
left behind him when we were about to depart. Afterwards all was
so calm that nothing could be seen or heard. The silence became
appalling, and to add to my alarm I began to lose consciousness.
I now wished to take snuff, but found I had left my box behind
me. I changed my seat many times; I went from prow to stern, but
the drowsiness only ceased to assail me when I was struck by two
furious winds, which compressed my balloon to such an extent that
its size became sensibly diminished to the eye. I was not sorry
when I began to descend rapidly upon the river, which at first
seemed to me a white thread, afterwards a ribbon, and then a
piece of cloth. As I followed the course of the river, the fear
that I should have to descend into it, made me agitate the oars
very rapidly. I believe that it is to these movements that I owe
my being able to cross the river transversely, and get above dry
land. When I saw myself upon the plain of Billancourt, I
recognised the bridge of Sevres, and the road to Versailles. I
was then about as high as the towers above the plain, and I could
hear the words and the cries of joy of the people who were
following me below. At length I came to a plain about 200 feet
in extent. The people then assisted me and brought my vessel to
anchor. Immediately I was surrounded by gentlemen and foot
passengers who had run together from all parts."
This voyage lasted one hour and a quarter. The most important
incident of it was that the balloon was very nearly burst by the
expansion of the hydrogen gas. No balloon, as we have already
seen, should be entirely inflated at the beginning of a journey.
Blanchard had a narrow escape from being the victim of his
ignorance of physics, and it is a wonder he was not left to the
mercy of fate in a burst balloon, at several thousand feet above
the earth.
Biot, the savant, who had watched the experiment, declared that
Blanchard did not stir himself, and that the variations of his
course are alone to be attributed to the currents of air that he
encountered. As he had inscribed upon his flags, his balloons,
and his entrance tickets, from which he realised a considerable
sum, the ambitious legend, Sic itur ad astra, the following
epigram was produced respecting him:--
From the Field of Mars he took his flight:
In a field close by he tumbled;
But our money having taken
He smiled though sadly shaken,
As Sic itur ad astra he mumbled.
What is most important to examine in each of the great aerial
voyages that have been made, is the special character which
distinguishes them from average experiments. All our great
voyages are rendered special and particular by the ideas of the
men who undertook them, and the aims which they severally meant
to achieve by them. The early ascents of Montgolfier had for
their aim the establishment of the fact that any body lighter
than the volume of air which it displaces will rise in the
atmosphere; those of Roziers were undertaken to prove that man
can apply this principle for the purpose of making actual aerial
voyages; those of Robertson, Gay-Lussac, &c., were undertaken for
the purpose of ascertaining certain meteorological phenomena;
those of Conte Coutelle applied aerostation to military uses. A
considerable number were made with the view of organising a
system of aerial navigation analogous to that of the sea-steerage
in a certain direction by means of oars or sails--in a word, to
investigate the possibility of sailing through the air to any
point fixed upon. It was with this object that the experiments
at Dijon took place, and these were the most serious attempts
down to our times that have been made to steer balloons.
At the middle of the globe of the balloon were placed four oars,
two sails, and a helm and these were under the management of the
voyagers, who sat in the car and worked them by means of ropes.
The car was also furnished with oars. The report of Guyton de
Morveau to the Academy at Dijon informs us that these different
paraphernalia were not altogether useless. The following
extracts are from this report:--
"The very strong wind which arose immediately before our
departure, had driven us down to tee ground many times, making us
fear for the safety of our oars, &c., when we resolved to throw
over as much ballast as would enable us to rise against the wind.
The ballast, including from 70 to 80 lbs. of provisions, was
thrown over, and then we rose so rapidly that all the objects
around were instantly passed and were very soon lost to view.
The swelling form of our balloon told us that the gas inside had
expanded under the heat of the sun and the lessening density of
the surrounding air. We opened the two valves, but even this
outlet was insufficient, and we had to cut a hole about seven or
eight inches long in the lower part of the balloon, through which
the gas might escape. At five minutes past five we passed above
a village which we did not know, and here we let fall a bag
filled with bran, and carrying with it a flag and a written
message to the effect that we were all well, and that the
barometer was recording 20 inches 9 lines, and the thermometer
one degree and a half below zero."
Very keen cold attacked the ears, but this was the only
inconvenience experienced, until the voyagers were lost in a sea
of clouds that shut them out from the view of the earth. The sun
at length began to descend, and they then perceived, by a
slackening in the lower part of the balloon, that it was time for
them to think of returning to the earth. Judging from the
compass that they were not far from the town of Auxonne, they
resolved to use all their endeavours to reach that place. The
sailing appliances had been considerably damaged by the rough
weather at starting. The rigging being disarranged, one of the
oars had got broken, another had become entangled in the rigging,
so that there remained only two of the four oars, and these,
being on the same side, were absolutely useless during the
greatest part of the voyage. The adventurers, however, assert
that they made them work from eight to nine minutes with the
greatest ease, making use of them to tack to the south-east.
"We hoped then to be able to descend near where we judged Auxonne
to be," the writer continues, "but we lost much gas by the
opening in the balloon, and descended more rapidly than we
expected or wished. We looked to our small stock of ballast with
anxiety, but there was no need of it, and we came very softly
down upon a slope."
When the aeronauts arrived at Magny-les-Auxonne, the inhabitants
gazed upon them in terror, and two men and three women fell down
on their knees before them.
Here is an extract from the report of the experiment of the 12th
of June, the principal object of which was the attempt to
discover the means of steering in a certain direction:--
"M. de Verley and myself mounted in the balloon," says Guyton de
Morveau, "at seven o'clock. We rose rapidly and in an almost
perpendicular direction. The fall of the mercury in the
barometer was scarcely perceptible when the dilation of the
hydrogen gas in the balloon had become considerable. The globe
swelled out, and a light vapour around the mouth announced to us
that the gas was commencing to escape by the safety-valve. We
assisted its escape by pulling the valve-string.
"Having reduced the dilation sufficiently for our purposes, we
resolved to attempt the working of the balloon before the whole
town and to turn it from the east to the north. We saw with
pleasure that our machinery answered By the working of the helm,
the prow of our air-boat was turned in the direction we desired.
The oars, working only on one side, supported the helm, and
altogether we got on as we wished. We described a curve,
crossing the road from Dijon to Langres. The mercury had
descended to 24 inches 8 lines, which announced that we were
gradually rising. We attempted for some time to follow the route
to I Langres, but the wind drove us off our course in spite of
all our efforts. At nine o'clock our barometer informed us that
we had ascended to the height of 6,000 feet. M. de Verley took
advantage of this elevation to put some touch wood to a
burning-glass 18 lines in diameter, and the touch wood lighted
immediately."
The aeronauts decided to direct their course for Dijon. After
re-setting the helm with this intention, they worked their oars,
and proceeded in that direction more than 1,000 feet. But heat
and fatigue obliged them to suspend their endeavours, and the
current drove them upon Mirebeau, where, throwing out the last of
their ballast and regulating their descent, they came softly down
upon a corn-field.
The adventurers were cordially welcomed by the ecclesiastics and
the magistrates of the place, and after a time they, with their
balloon, were carried back on men's shoulders to Dijon.
Chapter III. Experiment in Montgolfiers--Roziers and Proust--The
Duke of Chartres--The Comte d'Artois--Voyage of the Abbe Carnus
to Rodez.
The longest course travelled by Montgolfiere balloons, and the
highest elevation reached by them, were achieved by Roziers and
Proust with the Montgolfiere la Marie Antoinefte, at Versailles,
on the 23rd of June, 1784. Roziers himself has left us a
picturesque narrative of this excursion from Versailles to
Compiegne. He says:--
"The Montgolfiere rose at first very gently in a diagonal line,
presenting an imposing spectacle. Like a vessel which has just
been precipitated from the stocks, this astonishing machine hung
balanced in the air for some time, and seemed to have got beyond
human control. These irregular movements intimidated a portion
of the spectators, who, fearing that, should there be a fall,
their lives would be in danger, scattered away with great speed
from under us. After having fed my fire, I saluted the people,
who answered me in the most cordial manner. I had time to remark
some faces, in which there was a mixed expression of apprehension
and joy. In continuing our upward progress, I perceived that an
upper current of air made the Montgolfiere bend, but on
increasing the heat, we rose above the current. The size of
objects on the earth now began perceptibly to diminish, which
gave us an idea of the distance at which we were from them. It
was then that we became visible to Paris and its suburbs, and so
great was our elevation that many in the capital thought we were
directly over their heads.
"When we had arrived among the clouds, the earth disappeared from
our view. Now a thick mist would envelop us, then a clear space
showed us where we were, and again we rose through a mass of
snow, portions of which stuck to our gallery. Curious to know
how high we could ascend, we resolved to increase our fire and
raise the heat to the highest degree, by raising our grating, and
holding up our fagots suspended on the ends of our forks.
"Having gained these snowy elevations, and not being able to
mount higher, we wandered about for some time in regions which we
felt were now visited by man for the first time. Isolated and
separated entirely from nature, we perceived beneath us only
enormous masses of snow, which, reflecting the sunshine, filled
the firmament with a glorious light. We remained eight minutes
at this elevation, 11,732 feet above the earth. This situation,
however agreeable it might have been to the painter or the poet,
promised little to the man of science in the way of acquiring
knowledge; and so we determined, eighteen minutes after our
departure, to return through the clouds to the earth. We had
hardly left this snowy abyss, when the most pleasant scene
succeeded the most dreary one. The broad plains appeared before
our view in all their magnificence. No snow, no clouds were now
to be seen, except around the horizon, where a few clouds seemed
to rest on the earth. We passed in a minute from winter to
spring. We saw the immeasurable earth covered with towns and
villages, which at that distance appeared only so many isolated
mansions surrounded with gardens. The rivers which wound about
in all directions seemed no more than rills for the adornment of
these mansions; the largest forests looked mere clumps or groves,
and the meadows and broad fields seemed no more than garden
plots. These marvellous tableaux, which no painter could render,
reminded us of the fairy metamorphoses; only with this
difference, that we were beholding upon a mighty scale what
imagination could only picture in little. It is in such a
situation that the soul rises to the loftiest height, that the
thoughts are exalted and succeed each other with the greatest
rapidity. Travelling at this elevation, our fire did not demand
continual attention, and we could easily walk about the gallery.
We were as much at peace upon our lofty balcony as we should have
been upon the terrace of a mansion, enjoying all the pictures
which unrolled themselves before us continually, without
experiencing any of the giddiness which has disturbed so many
persons. Having broken my fork in my exertions to raise the
balloon, I went to obtain another one. On my way to get it, I
encountered my companion, M. Proust. We ought never to have been
on the same side of the balloon, for a capsize and the escape of
all our hydrogen gas might have been the result. As it was, so
well was the machine ballasted, that the only effect of our being
on the one side made the balloon incline a little in that
direction. The winds, although very considerable, caused us no
uneasiness, and we only knew the swiftness of our progress
through the air by the rapidity with which the villages seemed to
fly away from under our feet; so that it seemed, from the
tranquillity with which we moved, that we were borne along by the
diurnal movement of the globe. Often we wished to descend, in
order to learn what the people were crying to us the simplicity
of our arrangements enabled us to rise, to descend, to move in
horizontal or oblique lines, as we pleased and as often as we
considered necessary, without altogether landing."
When they came to Luzarche, the delighted aeronauts resolved to
land. Already the people were testifying their pleasure at
seeing them. Men came running together from all directions,
while all the animals rushed away with equal precipitation, no
doubt taking the balloon for some wild beast. Finding that their
course would lead them straight against certain houses, the
aeronauts again increased their fire, and, slightly rising,
escaped the buildings that had been in their way. Shortly
afterwards they safely landed forty miles from the spot from
which they had started.
It was not only the man of science or the mechanician that
devoted himself to the task of taking possession of the new
empire, but the nobles gave their hands to the aeronauts, and
humbly asked the favour of an ascent. The king had addressed
letters to the Brothers Montgolfier, and the marvellous invention
had become an affair of state. The princes of the blood and the
nobles of the court considered it an honour to count among the
number of their friends a celebrated aeronaut.
The Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles X., and the Duke de
Chartres, father of Louis Philippe, made experiments in aerial
navigation. The chemists Alban and Vallet made a magnificent
balloon for the Count, who went up many times in it, with several
persons of all ranks.
Already at St. Cloud, the Duke of Chartres, afterwards Philippe
Egalite, had, on the 15th of July, 1784, made, with the Brothers
Robert, an ascent which put their courage to terrible tests. The
hydrogen gas balloon was oblong, sixty feet high and forty feet
in diameter, and it had been constructed upon a plan supplied by
Meunier. In order to obviate the use of the valve, he had placed
inside the balloon a smaller globe, filled with ordinary air.
This was done on the supposition that, when the balloon rose
high, the hydrogen being rarefied would compress the little globe
within, and press out of it a quantity of ordinary air equal to
the amount of its dilation.
At eight o'clock, the Brothers Robert--Collin and Hullin--and the
Duke of Chartres, ascended in presence of an immense multitude.
The nearest ranks kneeled down to allow those behind to have a
view of the departure of the balloon, which disappeared among the
clouds amid the acclamations of the prostrate multitude. The
machine, obedient to the stormy and contrary winds which it met,
turned several times completely round. The helm, which had been
fitted to the machine, and the two oars, gave such a purchase to
the winds that the voyagers, already surrounded by the clouds,
cut them away. But the oscillations continued, and the little
globe inside not being suspended with cords, fell down in such an
unfortunate manner as to close up the opening of the large
balloon, by means of which provision had been made for the egress
of the gas now dilated by the heat of the sun, which poured down
its rays, a sudden gust having cleared the space of the clouds.
It was feared that the case of the balloon would crack, and the
whole thing collapse, in spite of the efforts of the aeronauts to
push back the smaller balloon from the opening. Then the Duke of
Chartres seized one of the flags they carried, and with the
lance-head pierced the balloon in two places. A rent of about
nine feet was the consequence, and the balloon began to descend
with amazing rapidity. They would have fallen into a lake had
they not thrown over 60 lbs. of ballast, which caused them to
rise a little, and pass over to the shore, where they got safely
to the earth.
The expedition lasted only a few minutes. The Duke of Chartres
was rallied by his enemies, who accused him of cowardice; and
Monjoie, his historian, making allusion to the combat of
Ouessant, says that he had given proofs of his cowardice in the
three elements--earth, air, and water
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