In our last chapters we have, in some measure, brought our aeronautical history up to the present day, though of necessity many important points and notable voyages have been passed over unnoticed. It now remains to us but to gather up the loose ends of the story, and then briefly to indicate the direction in which we may expect new advances in the future.
And, first of all, it may be well to mention a few ballooning “records.” The largest balloon ever known was used as a captive at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. It was of 883,000 cubic feet capacity, and capable of lifting more than fifty passengers at a time. Other mammoth balloons of almost as great dimensions have also been employed for captive work; but the largest balloon intended specially for “right away” ascents was the “Giant,” built in Paris in 1863 by M. Nadar. It held 215,000 cubic feet of gas, and was made of 22,000 yards of best white silk, at 5s. 4d. a yard. The car was particularly elaborate, almost as big as a small cottage, being of two stories, and divided into several rooms. It proved, however, to be a very dangerous adjunct, for on the two occasions it was used those within received very serious injury during rough landings, and it was soon put aside and replaced by an ordinary basket. None of these monster sky craft appear to have been very successful, and at the present day the largest balloons in general use do not exceed 50,000 or 60,000 cubic feet capacity.
The honour of the longest aerial voyage ever made rests with the unfortunate AndrÉe, who, if his dates are to be relied upon, had been forty-eight hours aloft in his balloon when he despatched his last found message. Not far behind in point of time, however, was Count de la Vaulx, who in the summer of 1901 attempted to cross the Mediterranean by balloon. Contrary winds in the end baffled his venture, and he was forced to descend on the deck of a steamer which was following his course, but not before he had spent forty-one hours in the sky. The year previous the Count had also achieved a record long-distance voyage in connection with some balloon competitions held during the French “Exposition” of 1900. Starting from Paris, he descended in Russia, 1193 miles away, having been aloft thirty-six hours all but fifteen minutes.
For lofty ascents the palm still rests with Glaisher and Coxwell, whose famous voyage of 1862, when, as related, a height of 37,000 feet (or seven miles) is said to have been reached, has never been equalled. The exact altitude attained on this occasion is, however, as we have explained, only conjectural, neither being capable at the last of taking observations, and no height being registered over 29,000 feet. On July 31st, 1901, two German scientists, Dr. Berson and Dr. Suring, ascended from Berlin to a registered altitude of 34,400 feet, or well over six miles. They were provided with compressed oxygen to breathe, but even then became unconscious during the last 800 feet of the ascent. Three years before Dr. Berson had made a very lofty ascent in England, accompanied by Mr. Stanley Spencer, when a height of 27,500 feet was reached. A terrible accident occurred in connection with a lofty scientific ascent made from Paris in 1875 by Tissandier, inventor of the airship already mentioned, and two companions. Their object was to attain a record height, in which they indeed succeeded, reaching 28,000 feet. But despite the artificial air they took with them to breathe, they all three became unconscious in the extreme upper regions, and when, after one of the most awful voyages in the whole history of ballooning, Tissandier came to himself, it was to find the bodies of his two friends stiff and cold beside him in the car. Coming to the aeronautical work of the present day, it is humiliating to have to confess that, through lack of public support, England has somewhat fallen behind other nations. In America and on the Continent large sums of money are subscribed for experiments with balloons, airships, and flying machines; but in our own country all efforts in these directions are due to private enterprise alone. Among those most keenly interested in aeronautical progress may be mentioned Mr. P. Alexander, of Bath; Major Baden-Powell, President of the English Aeronautical Society; and the Rev. J.M. Bacon. The latter has made many scientific balloon ascents for the study of meteorology, acoustics, and other kindred sciences, and his observations have proved of much interest and value. During his voyages he has met with several adventures, though no serious mishaps. On one occasion, when the writer accompanied him, during a night ascent made to observe the great shower of Leonid shooting stars foretold for the 16th of November 1899, the balloon became unmanageable while lost above the clouds. For ten hours it refused to come down, during much of which time the sea was heard beneath, and the voyagers believed themselves blown out over the Atlantic. A very stormy landing, in which the writer broke her arm, was eventually made near the coast in South Wales as before mentioned. In November 1902, Mr. Bacon, accompanied by Mr. Percival Spencer, crossed the Irish Channel by balloon, the second time only this dangerous passage has been made, the first occasion being the voyage of Mr. Windham Sadler, eighty-five years before. Mr. Bacon’s voyage was partly undertaken for the Admiralty, who lent the services of a gunboat to follow the balloon’s course over the sea. One of the special objects of investigation was to test a theory, long held, that from a considerable height aloft the bottom of the sea becomes visible, even in rough weather when the surface is troubled with waves. This point was very successfully settled, for although the sea was very rough, Mr. Bacon not only saw, but succeeded in photographing, from a height of 600 feet, the beds of sand and rock lying in ten fathoms at the bottom of the Irish Channel—a feat never before accomplished.
In scientific observations of the upper atmosphere a valuable ally to the balloon has been found in the kite. The making of kites has now reached a high pitch of perfection, and by their means self-recording scientific instruments can be raised to vast heights in the air, and even men carried aloft with safety. A kite which latterly has excited much attention is the Cody kite. With this, during the autumn of 1903, its inventor, a Mexican, hazarded a bold venture. Harnessing it to a light boat, and waiting for a favourable wind, he started from Calais at eight o’clock one November evening, and was safely towed all night across the Channel, reaching Dover at five the next morning.
The aeronautical competitions at the St. Louis Exhibition, in America, have given a great impetus to one branch at least of aeronautics, while the labour of many scientific workers throughout the whole world is directed to the improvement of our present modes of exploring the heavens, and the turning to best account of the means already at our disposal. Never since the days when the Montgolfier brothers floated their first frail craft has so much interest as now been manifested in the conquest of the sky, and never has progress been more rapid and sure. Whether the day will ever come when man will rule the atmosphere as he now does the sea is, as yet, uncertain, but there are many who hope and believe not only that he will, but that the day is not far distant when the birds will no longer hold undisputed sway over the empire of the air.
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
Edinburgh & London
