Part 8 (1/2)
A certain Dr Jeffries offered to accompany Blanchard On the 7th of January the sky was calht, the hich was very light, being froed meets were made above the cliffs of Dover When the balloon rose, there were only three sacks of sand of 10 lbs each in it They had not been long above ground when the barometer sank from 297 to 273 Dr Jeffries, in a letter addressed to the president of the Royal Society, describes with enthusias behind Dover, soith nu viehile the rocks on the other side, against which the waves dashed, offered a prospect that was rather trying
They had already passed one-third of the distance across the Channel when the balloon descended for the second time, and they threw over the last of their ballast; and that not sufficing, they threw over soot more than half way, they found to their disain descending, and the remainder of their books were thrown over At twenty-five minutes past two o'clock they had passed three-quarters of their journey, and they perceived ahead the inviting coasts of France But, in consequence either of the loss or the condensation of the infla They then threw over their provisions, the wings of the car, and other objects ”We were obliged,” says Jeffries, ”to throw out the only bottle we had, which fell on the water with a loud sound, and sent up spray like smoke”
They were now near the water themselves, and certain death seemed to stare them in the face It is said that at this critical moment Jeffries offered to throw himself into the sea, in order to save the life of his companion
”We are lost, both of us,” said he; ”and if you believe that it will save you to be lightened ofto sacrifice my life”
This story has certainly the appearance of romance, and belief in it is not positively demanded
One desperate resource only re on the to carry out this idea, when they iain It was indeed so The balloon mounted once more; they were only four h the air was rapid All fear was now banished Their exciting situation, and the idea that they were the first who had ever traversed the Channel in such a manner, rendered them careless about the want of certain articles of dress which they had discarded At three o'clock they passed over the shore half-way between Cape Blanc and Calais Then the balloon, rising rapidly, described a great arc, and they found thereater elevation than at any part of their course The wind increased in strength, and changed a little in its direction Having descended to the tops of the trees of the forest of Guines, Dr Jeffries seized a branch, and by this as rushed out, and the aeronauts safely reached the ground after the successful acco and memorable enterprise
A number of horsemen, who had watched the recent course of the balloon, now rode up, and gave the adventurers theday a splendid fete was celebrated in their honour at Calais
Blanchard was presented with the freedoold, and the municipal body purchased the balloon, with the intention of placing it in one of the churches as aalso resolved to erect a marble monument on the spot where the famous aeronauts landed
So, who conferred upon him an annual pension of 1,200 livres The queen, as at play at the ga table, placed a sum for him upon a card, and presented him with the purse which she won
Chapter VI Zambeccari's Perilous Trip Across the Adriatic Sea
There is not in the whole annals of aerostation acatastrophe than that of the unfortunate Co an aerial journey on October the 7th, 1804, was cast away on the waves of the Adriatic
The history of Za been taken by the Turks and thrown into the Bay of Constantinople, from which he with difficulty escaped, he devoted hiation He fancied he could make use of a lamp supplied with spirits of wine, the fla able to steer the balloon in whatever direction he chose One day his balloon dane, and the spirits of wine set his clothes on fire The flames hich the aeronaut was covered only served to increase the ascending power of the balloon, and the frightened spectators, a wife and children, saw hiht He succeeded, however, in extinguishi+ng the fire which surrounded hianised a series of experiments at Milan, for which he received, in advance, the sum of 8,000 crowns; but the experiments failed, in consequence of the inclemency of the weather, the treachery of his assistants, and the th, on the 7th of October, after a fall of rain which lasted forty-eight hours, and which had delayed the announced ascent, he resolved, whatever ainst hi men whom he had instructed, and who had pro the balloon, failed him at the critical moment Still, however, he continued his labours, with the help of two co-continued efforts, dis-appointed and hungry, he took his place in the car
The two coently at first, and hovered over the town of Bologna Zambeccari says, ”The la force, became useless We could not observe the state of the baroht of a lantern The insupportable cold that prevailed in the high region to which we had ascended, the weariness and hunger arising frolected to take nourishment for twenty-four hours, the vexation that embittered my spirit--all these combined produced in allery in a profound sleep that was like death 'The same misfortune overtook my companion Grassetti Andreoli was the only one who remained awake and able for duty--no doubt because he had taken plenty of food and a large quantity of rum Still he suffered from the cold, which was excessive, and his endeavours to waketi me to my feet, but my ideas were confused, and I de from a dream, 'What is the news?
Where are we? What time is it? How is the wind?'
”It o o'clock The coht in the lantern would not burn in such a rarefied atently across a thick layer of whitish clouds, and e had got below them, Andreoli heard a sound, nised as the breaking of waves in the distance Instantly he announced to er
I listened, and had not long to wait before I was convinced that he was speaking the truth It was necessary to have light to examine the state of the barometer, and thus ascertain as our elevation above the sea level, and to take our measures in consequence Andreoli broke five phosphorica spark of fire Nevertheless, we succeeded, after very great difficulty, by the help of the flint and steel, in lighting the lantern It was now three o'clock in the ht The sound of the waves, tossing ild uproar, became louder and louder, and I suddenly saw the surface of the sea violently agitated just below us I ie sack of sand, but had not tiallery and all In the firstthat would lighten the balloon--our ballast, all our instru, our money, and the oars As, in spite of all this, the balloon did not rise, we threw over our la that did not appear to us to be of indispensable necessity, the balloon, thus very htened, rose all at once, but with such rapidity and to such a prodigious elevation, that we had difficulty in hearing each other, even when shouting at the top of our voices I was ill, and vo at the nose; ere both breathing short and hard, and felt oppression on the chest As ere thrown upon our backs at the moment when the balloon took such a sudden start out of the water and bore us with such swiftness to those high regions, the cold seized us suddenly, and we found ourselves covered all at once with a coating of ice I could not account for the reason why the moon, which was in its last quarter, appeared on a parallel line with us, and looked red as blood
”After having traversed these regions for half an hour, at an ian to descend, and at last we fell again into the sea, at about four in theI cannot determine at what distance ere froht was very dark, the sea rolling heavily, and ere in no condition to make observations But it must have been in the ently, the gallery was sunk, and ere often entirely covered ater The balloon being now more than half eh, which we had passed, gave a purchase to the wind, which pressed against it as against a sail, so that by ed and beaten about at the mercy of the storm and the waves At daybreak we looked out and found ourselves opposite Pesaro, fourourselves with the prospect of a safe landing, when a wind from the land drove us with violence away over the open sea
It was now full day, but all we could see were the sea, the sky, and the death that threatened us Certainly soht; but no sooner did they see the balloon floating and striping upon the water than they et away from it No hope was then left to us but the very s the coasts of Dalreat distance frohtest doubt we should have been drowned if heaven had not ator who, better infornised our -boat to our rescue The sailors threw us a stout cable, which we attached to the gallery, and bywith exposure The balloon thus lightened, immediately rose into the air, in spite of all the efforts of the sailors ished to capture it The long boat received a severe shock from its escape, as the rope was still attached to it, and the sailors hastened to cut themselves free At once the balloon mounted with incredible rapidity, and was lost in the clouds, where it disappeared for ever froot on board Grassetti was so ill that he hardly showed any signs of life His hands were sadly er, and the dreadful anxiety had completely prostratedin his power to restore us
He conducted us safely to Ferrara, whence ere carried to Pola, where ere received with the greatest kindness, and where I was coers amputated”
Chapter VII Garnerin--Parachutes--Aerostation at Public Fetes
”On the 22nd October, 1797,” says the astronoht minutes past five, Citizen Garnerin rose in a balloon froned in the assees of all When he had ascended upwards of 2,000 feet, he cut the cord that connected his parachute and car with the balloon The latter exploded, and Garnerin descended in his parachute very rapidly He made a dreadful lurch in the air, that forced a sudden cry of fear from the whole multitude, and made a number of women faint Meanwhile Citizen Garnerin descended into the plain of Monceau; he mounted his horse upon the spot, and rode back to the park, attended by an iave vent to their ad aeronaut Garnerin was the first to undertake this erous venture He had conceived the idea of this feat while lying a prisoner of state in Buda, Hungary”
Lalande adds that he went and announced his success at the Institute National, which was assereatest interest
Robertson conducted an experi by means of a parachute at Vienna, in 1804, in which he received all the glory, without partaking of any of the danger He made the public preparations for an ascent in the balloon, his pupil, Michaud, however, took his place in the car, and made the ascent