Chapter XIII: Balloons

First air vehicle--Principle of Archimedes--Why balloons
rise--Inflating gases--Early history--The Montgolfiers--The
hot-air balloon--Charles’s hydrogen balloon--Pilatre de
Rozier--The first aeronaut--The first balloon voyage--Blanchard
and Jeffries--Crossing the English Channel--First English
ascensions--Notable voyages--Recent long-distance journeys
and high ascensions--Prize balloon races--A fascinating
sport--Some impressions, adventures, and hardships--Accident
record--Increasing interest in ballooning.

The balloon, though the earliest and crudest means of getting up in the air, has not become obsolete. It has been in existence practically in its present general form for upwards of 500 years. Appliances have been added from time to time, but the big gas envelope enclosing a volume of some gas lighter than an equal volume of air, and the basket, or car, suspended below it, remain as the typical form of aerial vehicle which has not changed since it was first devised in times so remote as to lie outside the boundaries of recorded history.

The common shape of the gas bag of a balloon is that of the sphere, or sometimes of an inverted pear. It is allowed to rise and float away in the air as the prevailing wind may carry it. Attempts have been made to steer it in a desired direction, but they did not accomplish much until the gas bag was made long horizontally, in proportion to its height and width. With a drag-rope trailing behind on the ground from the rear end of the gas bag, and sails on the forward end, it was possible to guide the elongated balloon to some extent in a determined direction.

In explaining why a balloon rises in the air, it is customary to quote the “principle of Archimedes,” discovered and formulated by that famous philosopher centuries before the Christian era. Briefly stated, it is this: Every body immersed in a fluid is acted upon by a force pressing upward, which is equal to the weight of the amount of the fluid displaced by the immersed body.

It remained for Sir Isaac Newton to explain the principle of Archimedes (by the discovery of the law of gravitation), and to show that the reason why the immersed body is apparently pushed upward, is that the displaced fluid is attracted downward. In the case of a submerged bag of a gas lighter than air, the amount of force acting on the surrounding air is greater than that acting on the gas, and the latter is simply crowded out of the way by the descending air, and forced up to a higher level where its lighter bulk is balanced by the gravity acting upon it.

The fluid in which the balloon is immersed is the air. The force with which the air crowds down around and under the balloon is its weight--weight being the measure of the attraction which gravity exerts upon any substance.

The weight of air at a temperature of 32° Fahr., at the normal barometer pressure at the sea-level (29.92 inches of mercury), is 0.0807 lbs. per cubic foot. The gas used to fill a balloon must therefore weigh less than this, bulk for bulk, in order to be crowded upward by the heavier air--and thus exert its “lifting power,” as it is commonly called.

In practice, two gases have been used for inflating balloons--hydrogen, and illuminating gas, made ordinarily from coal, and called “coal gas.” Hydrogen is the lightest substance known; that is, it is attracted less by gravity than any other known substance, in proportion to its bulk.

A cubic foot of hydrogen weighs but 0.0056 lbs., and it will therefore be pushed upward in air by the difference in weight, or 0.0751 lbs. per cubic foot. A cubic foot of coal gas weighs about 0.0400 lbs., and is crowded upward in air with a force of 0.0407 lbs.

Apparatus to illustrate the principle of Archimedes. At the left,
the small solid glass ball and large hollow glass sphere are
balanced in the free air. When the balance is moved under the
bell-glass of the air pump (at the right), and the air exhausted,
the large sphere drops, showing that its previous balance was due
to the upward pressure of the air, greater because of its larger
bulk.]

It is readily seen that a very large bulk of hydrogen must be used if any considerable weight is to be lifted. For to the weight of the gas must be added the weight of the containing bag, the car, and the network supporting it, the ballast, instruments, and passengers, and there must still be enough more to afford elevating power sufficient to raise the entire load to the desired level.

Let us assume that we have a balloon with a volume of 20,000 cubic feet, which weighs with its appurtenances 500 pounds. The hydrogen it would contain would weigh about 112 pounds, and the weight of the air it would displace would be about 1,620 pounds. The total available lifting power would be about 1,000 pounds. If a long-distance journey is to be undertaken at a comparatively low level, this will be sufficient to carry the necessary ballast, and a few passengers. If, however, it is intended to rise to a great height, the problem is different. The weight of the air, and consequently its lifting pressure, decreases as we go upwards. If the balloon has not been entirely filled, the gas will expand as the pressure is reduced in the higher altitude. This has the effect of carrying the balloon higher. Heating of the contained gas by the sun will also cause a rise. On the other hand, the diffusion of the gas through the envelope into the air, and the penetration of air into the gas bag will produce a mixture heavier than hydrogen, and will cause the balloon to descend. The extreme cold of the upper air has the same effect, as it tends to condense to a smaller bulk the gas in the balloon. To check a descent the load carried by the gas must be lightened by throwing out some of the ballast, which is carried simply for this purpose. Finally a level is reached where equilibrium is established, and above which it is impossible to rise.

The earliest recorded ascent of a balloon is credited to the Chinese, on the occasion of the coronation of the Emperor Fo-Kien at Pekin in the year 1306. If this may be called historical, it gives evidence also that it speedily became a lost art. The next really historic record belongs in the latter part of the seventeenth century, when Cyrano de Bergerac attempted to fly with the aid of bags of air attached to his person, expecting them to be so expanded by the heat of the sun as to rise with sufficient force to lift him. He did not succeed, but his idea is plainly the forerunner of the hot-air balloon.

In the same century Francisco de Lana, who was clearly a man of much intelligence and keen reasoning ability, having determined by experiment that the atmosphere had weight, decided that he would be able to rise into the air in a ship lifted by four metal spheres 20 feet in diameter from which the air had been exhausted. After several failures he abandoned his efforts upon the religious grounds that the Almighty doubtless did not approve such an overturning in the affairs of mankind as would follow the attainment of the art of flying.

In 1757, Galen, a French monk, published a book, “The Art of Navigating in the Air,” in which he advocated filling the body of the airship with air secured at a great height above the sea-level, where it was “a thousand times lighter than water.” He showed by mathematical computations that the upward impulse of this air would be sufficient to lift a heavy load. He planned in detail a great airship to carry 4,000,000 persons and several million packages of goods. Though it may have accomplished nothing more, this book is believed to have been the chief source of inspiration to the Montgolfiers.

The discovery of hydrogen by Cavendish in 1776 gave Dr. Black the opportunity of suggesting that it be used to inflate a large bag and so lift a heavy load into the air. Although he made no attempt to construct such an apparatus, he afterward claimed that through this suggestion he was entitled to be called the real inventor of the balloon.

This is the meagre historical record preceding the achievements of the brothers Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, which marked distinctly the beginning of practical aeronautics. Both of these men were highly educated, and they were experienced workers in their father’s paper factory. Joseph had made some parachute drops from the roof of his house as early as 1771.

After many experiments with steam, smoke, and hydrogen gas, with which they tried ineffectually to inflate large paper bags, they finally succeeded with heated air, and on June 5, 1783, they sent up a great paper hot-air balloon, 35 feet in diameter. It rose to a height of 1,000 feet, but soon came to earth again upon cooling. It appears that the Montgolfiers were wholly ignorant of the fact that it was the rarefying of the air by heating that caused their balloon to rise, and they made no attempt to keep it hot while the balloon was in the air.

About the same time the French scientist, M. Charles, decided that hydrogen gas would be better than hot air to inflate balloons. Finding that this gas passed readily through paper, he used silk coated with a varnish made by dissolving rubber. His balloon was 13 feet in diameter, and weighed about 20 pounds. It was sent up from the Champ de Mars on August 29, 1783, amidst the booming of cannon, in the presence of 300,000 spectators who assembled despite a heavy rain. It rose swiftly, disappearing among the clouds, and soon burst from the expansion of the gas in the higher and rarer atmosphere--no allowance having been made for this unforeseen result. It fell in a rural region near Paris, where it was totally destroyed by the inhabitants, who believed it to be some hideous form of the devil.

The Montgolfiers had already come to Paris, and had constructed a balloon of linen and paper. Before they had opportunity of sending it up it was ruined by a rainstorm with a high wind. They immediately built another of waterproof linen which made a successful ascension on September 19, 1783, taking as passengers a sheep, a cock, and a duck. The balloon came safely to earth after being up eight minutes--falling in consequence of a leak in the air-bag near the top. The passengers were examined with great interest. The sheep and the duck seemed in the same excellent condition as when they went up, but the cock was evidently ailing. A consultation of scientists was held and it was the consensus of opinion that the fowl could not endure breathing the rarer air of the high altitude. At this juncture some one discovered that the cock had been trodden upon by the sheep, and the consultation closed abruptly.

The Montgolfier brothers were loaded with honors, Stephen receiving the larger portion; and the people of Paris entered enthusiastically into the sport of making and flying small balloons of the Montgolfier type.

Stephen began work at once upon a larger balloon intended to carry human passengers. It was fifty feet in diameter, and 85 feet high, with a capacity of 100,000 cubic feet. The car for the passengers was swung below from cords in the fashion that has since become so familiar.

In the meantime Pilatre de Rozier had constructed a balloon on the hot-air principle, but with an arrangement to keep the air heated by a continuous fire in a pan under the mouth of the balloon. He made the first balloon ascent on record on October 15, 1783, rising to a height of eighty feet, in the captive balloon. On November 21, in the same year, de Rozier undertook an expedition in a free balloon with the Marquis d’Arlandes as a companion. The experiment was to have been made with two condemned criminals, but de Rozier and d’Arlandes succeeded in obtaining the King’s permission to make the attempt, and in consequence their names remain as those of the first aeronauts. They came safely to the ground after a voyage lasting twenty-five minutes. After this, ascensions speedily became a recognized sport, even for ladies.

The greatest altitude reached by these hot-air balloons was about 9,000 feet.

The great danger from fire, however, led to the closer consideration of the hydrogen balloon of Professor Charles, who was building one of 30 feet diameter for the study of atmospheric phenomena. His mastery of the subject is shown by the fact that his balloon was equipped with almost every device afterward in use by the most experienced aeronauts. He invented the valve at the top of the bag for allowing the escape of gas in landing, the open neck to permit expansion, the network of cords to support the car, the grapnel for anchoring, and the use of a small pilot balloon to test the air-currents before the ascension. He also devised a barometer by which he was able to measure the altitude reached by the pressure of the atmosphere.

To provide the hydrogen gas required he used the chemical method of pouring dilute sulphuric acid on iron filings. The process was so slow that it took continuous action for three days and three nights to secure the 14,000 cubic feet needed, but his balloon was finally ready on December 1, 1783. One of the brothers Robert accompanied Charles, and they travelled about 40 miles in a little less than 4 hours, alighting at Nesles. Here Robert landed and Charles continued the voyage alone. Neglecting to take on board ballast to replace the weight of M. Robert, Charles was carried to a great height, and suffered severely from cold and the difficulty of breathing in the highly rarefied air. He was obliged to open his gas valve and descend after half an hour’s flight alone.

Blanchard, another French inventor, about this time constructed a balloon with the intention of being the first to cross the English Channel in the air. He took his balloon to Dover and with Dr. Jeffries, an American, started on January 7, 1785. His balloon was leaky and he had loaded it down with a lot of useless things in the way of oars, provisions, and other things. All of this material and the ballast had to be thrown overboard at the outset, and books and parts of the balloon followed. Even their clothing had to be thrown over to keep the balloon out of the sea, and at last, when Dr. Jeffries had determined to jump out to enable his friend to reach the shore, an upward current of wind caught them and with great difficulty they landed near Calais. The feat was highly lauded and a monument in marble was erected on the spot to perpetuate the record of the achievement.

De Rozier lost his life soon after in the effort to duplicate this trip across the Channel with his combination hydrogen and hot-air balloon. His idea seems to have been that he could preserve the buoyancy of his double balloon by heating up the air balloon at intervals. Unfortunately, the exuding of the hydrogen as the balloons rose formed an explosive mixture with the air he was rising through, and it was drawn to his furnace, and an explosion took place which blew the entire apparatus into fragments at an altitude of over 1,000 feet.

Count Zambeccari, an Italian, attempted to improve the de Rozier method of firing a balloon by substituting a large alcohol lamp for the wood fire. In the first two trial trips he fell into the sea, but was rescued. On the third trip his balloon was swept into a tree, and the overturned lamp set it on fire. To escape being burned, he threw himself from the balloon and was killed by the fall.

The year before these feats on the Continent two notable balloon ascensions had taken place in England. On August 27, 1784, an aeronaut by the name of Tytler made the first balloon voyage within the boundaries of Great Britain. His balloon was of linen and varnished, and the record of his ascension indicates that he used hydrogen gas to inflate it. He soared to a great height, and descended safely.

A few weeks later, the Italian aeronaut Lunardi made his first ascent from London. The spectacle drew the King and his councillors from their deliberations, and the balloon was watched until it disappeared. He landed in Standon, near Ware, where a stone was set to record the event. On October 12, he made his famous voyage from Edinburgh over the Firth of Forth to Ceres; a distance of 46 miles in 35 minutes, or at the rate of nearly 79 miles per hour; a speed rarely equalled by the swiftest railroad trains.

From this time on balloons multiplied rapidly and the ascents were too numerous for recording in these pages. The few which have been selected for mention are notable either for the great distances traversed, or for the speed with which the journeys were made. It should be borne in mind that the fastest method of land travel in the early part of the period covered was by stage coach; and the sailing ship was the only means of crossing the water. It is no wonder that often the people among whom the aeronauts landed on a balloon voyage refused to believe the statements made as to the distance they had come, and the marvellously short time it had taken. And even as compared with the most rapid transit of the present day, the speeds attained in many cases have never been equalled.

A remarkable English voyage was made in June, 1802, by the French aeronaut Garnerin and Captain Snowdon. They ascended from Chelsea Gardens and landed in Colchester, 60 miles distant, in 45 minutes: an average speed of 80 miles an hour.

On December 16, 1804, Garnerin ascended from the square in front of Notre Dame, Paris; passing over France and into Italy, sailing above St. Peter’s at Rome, and the Vatican, and descending into Lake Bracciano--a distance of 800 miles in 20 hours. This voyage was made as a part of the coronation ceremonies of Napoleon I. The balloon was afterwards hung up in a corridor of the Vatican.

On October 7, 1811, Sadler and Burcham voyaged from Birmingham to Boston (England), 112 miles in 1 hour 40 minutes, a speed of 67 miles per hour.

On November 17, 1836, Charles Green and Monck Mason started on a voyage in the great balloon of the Vauxhall Gardens. It was pear-shaped, 60 feet high and 50 feet in diameter, and held 85,000 cubic feet of gas. It was cut loose at half-past one in the afternoon, and in 3 hours had reached the English Channel, and in 1 hour more had crossed it, and was nearly over Calais. During the night it floated on over France in pitchy darkness and such intense cold that the oil was frozen. In the morning the aeronauts descended a few miles from Weilburg, in the Duchy of Nassau, having travelled about 500 miles in 18 hours. At that date, by the fastest coaches the trip would have consumed three days. The balloon was rechristened “The Great Balloon of Nassau” by the enthusiastic citizens of Weilburg.

Prof. T. S. C. Lowe’s mammoth balloon “City of New York,” a
feature of the year 1860, in which it made many short voyages in
the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia.]

In 1849, M. Arban crossed the Alps in a balloon, starting at Marseilles and landing at Turin--a distance of 400 miles in 8 hours. This remarkable record for so long a distance at a high speed has rarely been equalled. It was exceeded as to distance at the same speed by the American aeronaut, John Wise, in 1859.

One of the most famous balloons of recent times was the “Geant,” built by M. Nadar, in Paris, in 1853. The immense gas-bag was made of silk of the finest quality costing at that time about $1.30 a yard, and being made double, it required 22,000 yards. It had a capacity of 215,000 cubic feet of gas, and lifted 4½ tons. The car was 13 feet square, and had an upper deck which was open. On its first ascent it carried 15 passengers, including M. Nadar as captain, and the brothers Godard as lieutenants. A few weeks later this balloon was set free for a long-distance journey, and 17 hours after it left Paris it landed at Nieuburg in Hanover, having traversed 750 miles, a part of the time at the speed of fully 90 miles per hour.

In July, 1859, John Wise, an American aeronaut, journeyed from St. Louis, Mo., to Henderson, N. Y., a distance of 950 miles in 19 hours. His average speed was 50 miles per hour. This record for duration at so high a rate of speed has never been exceeded.

During the siege of Paris in 1870, seventy-three balloons were sent out from that city carrying mail and dispatches. These were under Government direction, and receive notice in a subsequent chapter devoted to Military Aeronautics. One of these balloons is entitled to mention among those famous for rapid journeys, having travelled to the Zuyder Zee, a distance of 285 miles, in 3 hours--an average speed of 95 miles per hour. Another of these postal balloons belongs in the extreme long-distance class, having come down in Norway nearly 1,000 miles from Paris.

In July, 1897, the Arctic explorer Andrée started on his voyage to the Pole. As some of his instruments have been recently recovered from a wandering band of Esquimaux, it is believed that a record of his voyage may yet be secured.

In the same year a balloon under the command of Godard ascended at Leipsic, and after a wandering journey in an irregular course, descended at Wilna. The distance travelled was estimated at 1,032 miles, but as balloon records are always based on the airline distance between the places of ascent and descent, this record has not been accepted as authoritative. The time consumed was 24¼ hours.

In 1899, Captain von Sigsfield, Captain Hildebrandt, and a companion started from Berlin in a wind so strong that it prevented the taking on of an adequate load of ballast. They rose into a gale, and in two hours were over Breslau, having made the distance at a speed of 92 miles per hour. In the grasp of the storm they continued their swift journey, landing finally high up in the snows of the Carpathian Alps in Austria. They were arrested by the local authorities as Russian spies, but succeeded in gaining their liberty by telegraphing to an official more closely in touch with the aeronautics of the day.

In 1900 there were several balloon voyages notable for their length. Jacques Balsan travelled from Vincennes to Dantzig, 757 miles; Count de la Vaulx journeyed from Vincennes to Poland, 706 miles; Jacques Faure from Vincennes to Mamlity, 753 miles. In a subsequent voyage Jacques Balsan travelled from Vincennes to Rodom, in Russia, 843 miles, in 27½ hours.

One of the longest balloon voyages on record in point of time consumed is that of Dr. Wegener of the Observatory at Lindenberg, in 1905. He remained in the air for 52¾ hours.

The longest voyage, as to distance, up to 1910, was that of Count de La Vaulx and Count Castillon de Saint Victor in 1906, in the balloon “Centaur.” This was a comparatively small balloon, having a capacity of only 55,000 cubic feet of gas. The start was made from Vincennes on October 9th, and the landing at Korostischeff, in Russia, on October 11th. The air-line distance travelled was 1,193 miles, in 35¾ hours. The balloon “Centaur” was afterward purchased by the Aero Club of America, and has made many voyages in this country.

The Federation Aeronautique Internationale, an association of the aeronauts of all nations, was founded in 1905. One of its functions is an annual balloon race for the International Challenge Cup, presented to the association by James Gordon Bennett, to be an object for competition until won three times by some one competing national club.

The first contest took place in September, 1906, and was won by the American competitor, Lieut. Frank P. Lahm, with a voyage of 402 miles.

The second contest was from St. Louis, Mo., in 1907. There were three German, two French, one English, and three American competitors. The race was won by Oscar Erbslöh, one of the German competitors, with an air-line voyage of 872¼ miles, landing at Bradley Beach, N. J. Alfred Leblanc, now a prominent aviator, was second with a voyage of 867 miles, made in 44 hours. He also landed in New Jersey.

The third race started at Berlin in October, 1908, and was won by the Swiss balloon “Helvetia,” piloted by Colonel Schaeck, which landed in Norway after having been 74 hours in the air, and covering a journey of 750 miles. This broke the previous duration record made by Dr. Wegener in 1905.

The fourth contest began on October 3, 1909, from Zurich, Switzerland. There were seventeen competing balloons, and the race was won by E. W. Mix, representing the Aero Club of America, with a voyage of 589 miles.

The fifth contest began at St. Louis, October 17, 1910. It was won by Alan P. Hawley and Augustus Post, with the “America II.” They travelled 1,355 miles in 46 hours, making a new world’s record for distance.

Among other notable voyages may be mentioned that of the “Fielding” in a race on July 4, 1908, from Chicago. The landing was made at West Shefford, Quebec, the distance travelled being 895 miles.

In November of the same year A. E. Gaudron, Captain Maitland, and C. C. Turner, made the longest voyage on record from England. They landed at Mateki Derevni, in Russia, having travelled 1,117 miles in 31½ hours. They were driven down to the ground by a severe snowstorm.

On December 31, 1908, M. Usuelli, in the balloon “Ruwenzori” left the Italian lakes and passed over the Alps at a height of 14,750 feet, landing in France. This feat was followed a few weeks later--February 9, 1909--by Oscar Erbslöh, who left St. Moritz with three passengers, crossing the Alps at an altitude of 19,000 feet, and landed at Budapest after a voyage of 33 hours. Many voyages over and among the Alps have been made by Captain Spelterini, the Swiss aeronaut, and he has secured some of the most remarkable photographs of the mountain scenery in passing. In these voyages at such great altitudes it is necessary to carry cylinders of oxygen to provide a suitable air mixture for breathing. In one of his recent voyages Captain Spelterini had the good fortune to be carried almost over the summit of Mont Blanc. He ascended with three passengers at Chamounix, and landed at Lake Maggiore seven hours later, having reached the altitude of 18,700 feet, and travelled 93 miles.

In the United States there were several balloon races during the year 1909, the most important being the St. Louis Centennial race, beginning on October 4th. Ten balloons started. The race was won by S. von Phul, who covered the distance of 550 miles in 40 hours 40 minutes. Clifford B. Harmon and Augustus Post in the balloon “New York” made a new duration record for America of 48 hours 26 minutes. They also reached the highest altitude attained by an American balloon--24,200 feet.

On October 12th, in a race for the Lahm cup, A. Holland Forbes and Col. Max Fleischman won. They left St. Louis, Mo., and landed 19 hours and 15 minutes later at Beach, Va., near Richmond, having travelled 697 miles.

In 1910, in the United States, a remarkable race, with thirteen competitors, started at Indianapolis. This was the elimination race for the International race on October 17th. It was won by Alan P. Hawley and Augustus Post in the balloon “America II.” They crossed the Alleghany Mountains at an elevation of about 20,000 feet, and landed at Warrenton, Va., after being 44 hours 30 minutes in the air; and descended only to escape being carried out over Chesapeake Bay.

In recent years the greatest height reached by a balloon was attained by the Italian aeronauts Piacenza and Mina in the “Albatross,” on August 9, 1909. They went up from Turin to the altitude of 30,350 feet. The world’s height record rests with Professors Berson and Suring of Berlin, who on July 31, 1901, reached 35,500 feet. The record of 37,000 feet claimed by Glaisher and Coxwell in their ascension on September 5, 1862, has been rejected as not authentic for several discrepancies in their observations, and on the ground that their instruments were not of the highest reliability. As they carried no oxygen, and reported that for a time they were both unconscious, it is estimated that the highest point they could have reached under the conditions was less than 31,000 feet.

The greatest speed ever recorded for any balloon voyage was that of Captain von Sigsfield and Dr. Linke in their fatal journey from Berlin to Antwerp, during which the velocity of 125 miles per hour was recorded.

Ballooning as a sport has a fascination all its own. There is much of the spice of adventure in the fact that one’s destiny is quite unknown. Floating with the wind, there is no consciousness of motion. Though the wind may be travelling at great speed, the balloon seems to be in a complete calm. A lady passenger, writing of a recent trip, has thus described her experience:--“The world continues slowly to unroll itself in ever-varying but ever-beautiful panorama--patchwork fields, shimmering silver streaks, toy box churches and houses, and white roads like the joints of a jig-saw puzzle. And presently cotton-wool billows come creeping up, with purple shadows and fleecy outlines and prismatic rainbow effects. Sometimes they invade the car, and shroud it for a while in clinging warm white wreaths, and anon they fall below and shut out the world with a glorious curtain, and we are all alone in perfect silence, in perfect peace, and in a realm made for us alone.

“And so the happy, restful hours go smoothly by, until the earth has had enough of it, and rising up more or less rapidly to invade our solitude, hits the bottom of our basket, and we step out, or maybe roll out, into every-day existence a hundred miles away.”

The perfect smoothness of motion, the absolute quiet, and the absence of distracting apparatus combine to render balloon voyaging the most delightful mode of transit from place to place. Some of the most fascinating bits of descriptive writing are those of aeronauts. The following quotation from the report of Capt. A. Hildebrandt, of the balloon corps of the Prussian army, will show that although his expeditions were wholly scientific, he was far from indifferent to the sublimer influences of nature by which he was often surrounded.

In his account of the journey from Berlin to Markaryd, in Sweden, with Professor Berson as a companion aeronaut, he says: “The view over Rügen and the chalk cliffs of Stubbenkammer and Arkona was splendid: the atmosphere was perfectly clear. On the horizon we could see the coasts of Sweden and Denmark, looking almost like a thin mist; east and west there was nothing but the open sea.

“About 3:15 the balloon was in the middle of the Baltic; right in the distance we could just see Rügen and Sweden. The setting of the sun at 4 P.M. was a truly magnificent spectacle. At a height of 5,250 feet, in a perfectly clear atmosphere, the effect was superb. The blaze of color was dimly reflected in the east by streaks of a bluish-green. I have seen sunsets over France at heights of 10,000 feet, with the Alps, the Juras, and the Vosges Mountains in the distance; but this was quite as fine.

“The sunsets seen by the mountaineer or the sailor are doubtless, magnificent; but I hardly think the spectacle can be finer than that spread out before the gaze of the balloonist. The impression is increased by the absolute stillness which prevails; no sound of any kind is heard.

“As soon as the sun went down, it was necessary to throw out some ballast, owing to the decrease of temperature.... We reached the Swedish coast about 5 o’clock, and passed over Trelleborg at a height of 2,000 feet. The question then arose whether to land, or to continue through the night. Although it was well past sunset, there was sufficient light in consequence of the snow to see our way to the ground, and to land quite easily.... However, we wanted to do more meteorological work, and it was thought that there was still sufficient ballast to take us up to a much greater height. We therefore proposed to continue for another sixteen hours during the night, in spite of the cold.... Malmö was therefore passed on the left, and the university town of Lund on the right. After this the map was of no further use, as it was quite dark and we had no lamp. The whole outlook was like a transformation scene. Floods of light rose up from Trelleborg, Malmö, Copenhagen, Landskrona, Lund, Elsinore, and Helsingborg, while the little towns beneath our feet sparkled with many lights. We were now at a height of more than 10,000 feet, and consequently all these places were within sight. The glistening effect of the snow was heightened by the blaze which poured from the lighthouses along the coasts of Sweden and Denmark. The sight was as wonderful as that of the sunset, though of a totally different nature.”

Captain Hildebrandt’s account of the end of this voyage illustrates the spice of adventure which is likely to be encountered when the balloon comes down in a strange country. It has its hint also of the hardships for which the venturesome aeronaut has to be prepared. He says:--

“Sooner or later the balloon would have been at the mercy of the waves. The valve was opened, and the balloon descended through the thick clouds. We could see nothing, but the little jerks showed us that the guide-rope was touching the ground. In a few seconds we saw the ground, and learned that we were descending into a forest which enclosed a number of small lakes. At once more ballast was thrown out, and we skimmed along over the tops of the trees. Soon we crossed a big lake, and saw a place that seemed suitable for a descent. The valve was then opened, both of us gave a tug at the ripping cord, and after a few bumps we found ourselves on the ground. We had come down in deep snow on the side of a wood, about 14 miles from the railway station at Markaryd.

“We packed up our instruments, and began to look out for a cottage; but this is not always an easy task in the dead of night in a foreign country. However, in a quarter of an hour we found a farm, and succeeded in rousing the inmates. A much more difficult job was to influence them to open their front door to two men who talked some sort of double Dutch, and who suddenly appeared at a farmyard miles off the highway in the middle of the night and demanded admittance. Berson can talk in six languages, but unfortunately Swedish is not one of them. He begged in the most humble way for shelter ... and at the end of three-quarters of an hour the farmer opened the door. We showed him some pictures of a balloon we had with us, and then they began to understand the situation. We were then received with truly Swedish hospitality, and provided with supper. They even proposed to let us have their beds; but this we naturally declined with many thanks.... The yard contained hens, pigs, cows, and sheep; but an empty corner was found, which was well packed with straw, and served as a couch for our tired limbs. We covered ourselves with our great-coats, and tried to sleep. But the temperature was 10° Fahr., and as the place was only an outhouse of boards roughly nailed together, and the wind whistling through the cracks and crevices, we were not sorry when the daylight came.”

Lest the possibility of accident to travellers by balloon be judged greater than it really is, it may be well to state that records collected in Germany in 1906 showed that in 2,061 ascents in which 7,570 persons participated, only 36 were injured--or but 1 out of 210. Since that time, while the balloon itself has remained practically unchanged, better knowledge of atmospheric conditions has aided in creating an even more favorable record for recent years.

That the day of ordinary ballooning has not been dimmed by the advent of the airship and the aeroplane is evidenced by the recently made estimate that not less than 800 spherical balloons are in constant use almost daily in one part or another of Christendom. And it seems entirely reasonable to predict that with a better comprehension of the movements of air-currents--to which special knowledge the scientific world is now applying its investigations as never before--they will come a great increase of interest in simple ballooning as a recreation.