crowds to the Champ de Mars yesterday afternoon. Considering that the
avenues encircling that vast space were filled to suffocation, so that
we found it extremely difficult to force our way to the open ground
reserved for tickets, and that all the housetops were occupied by
spectators, we think the number of persons present may fairly be stated
at 80,000. Ample precautions had been taken to prevent disasters,--a
strong police force, supported by a company of infantry and some
cavalry, being present to maintain order. The balloon, which is 90
yards in circumference, and has consumed upwards of 20,000 yards of silk
in its manufacture, was held down, while filling, by about 100 men, and
the weight of at least 200 sandbags. The car was of wicker-work,
comprising an inner surface of about 54 square feet divided into three
compartments or small rooms, surmounted by an open terrace, to which the
balloon was braced. Outside grapnels, wheels, and fowling-pieces, four
of each, besides two speaking-trumpets, were lashed to the sides of the
car. (The wheels were intended to be put to the car after alighting, in
order to convey it back with horses.) The preliminary operations took
considerable time, putting the patience of the spectators to a severe
trial, a circumstance which perhaps prevented them from cheering when
the words `_Lachez tout_!' were given, and the immense machine rose
slowly and majestically into the air. We were rather surprised at the
silence of the public, considering the very remarkable and interesting
feat in aeronautics thus successfully performed. There were fifteen
persons in the car, or rather cabin:--Monsieur Nadar, captain; Messieurs
Marcel, Louis and Jules Godard, lieutenants; the Prince de
Sayn-Wittgenstein, Count de Saint Martin, Monsieur Tournachon (Nadar's
brother), Messieurs Eugene Delessert, Thirion, Piallat, Robert Mitchell,
Gabriel Morris, Paul de Saint Victor, de Villemessant, and one lady, the
Princess de la Tour d'Auvergne. The Princess was taking her usual drive
to the Bois de Boulogne, when, observing an unusual movement in the
neighbourhood of the Invalides, and having inquired the cause; she
ordered her coach man to drive to the Champ de Mars. Having seen the
balloon, she expressed a wish to make the ascent, and although Nadar had
to the last moment refused to take any lady, and even his own wife, he
could not resist the entreaty of the Princess. On starting, Monsieur
Nadar climbed up the net-work and took off his hat to the spectators.
The balloon took a north-easterly direction, and was visible for some
time. At the moment of going to press, a communication has reached us,
signed by the captain, Monsieur Nadar, and all those who had taken
places in the balloon, stating that on alighting yesterday evening at
nine o'clock at Ibarcy, near Meaux (Seine-et-Marne), three severe shocks
were experienced, which had the effect of completely capsizing the
balloon, and inflicting on its occupants several rather severe
contusions.
"Interesting details of the ascent of the Nadar balloon, said to have
been narrated by Prince Wittgenstein, are given by the _France_. The
most extraordinary is, that at half-past eight, when the balloon
attained the height of 1500 metres, the aeronauts saw the sun, which had
set for the earth below upwards of two hours before. The effect of the
light upon the balloon is described as something marvellous, and as
having thrown the travellers into a sort of ecstasy. Although they met
with no rain, their clothes were all dripping wet from the mist which
they passed through. The descent was more perilous than at first
reported. The car dragged on its side for nearly a mile, and the
passengers took refuge in the ropes, to which they clung. Several were
considerably bruised--though, as before stated, no one sustained any
very serious injury. Everybody behaved well. Nadar, visibly uneasy
about his fair charge, the young Princess de la Tour d'Auvergne, was
told by her to attend to his duty as captain. `Every one at his post,'
said she; `I will keep to mine.' Notwithstanding all the shaking which
the car underwent, the 37 bottles of wine provided for the journey were
all found unbroken, and they were most joyously broached when the party
got on _terra firma_. The rifles, the crockery, as well as a cake and
13 ices, presented to Nadar by Siraudin, of the Rue de la Paix, were all
uninjured. When the descent was effected, the lights and the
speaking-trumpets soon attracted a number of peasants, who brought carts
and helped the party to the village of Barcy, where most of them passed
the night; but Monsieur Nadar and the Prince de Wittgenstein, with two
or three others, came to Paris by the first train from Meaux.
"It is said that the descent was resolved upon in consequence of the
advice of the brothers Godard, and contrary to the wish of Monsieur
Nadar, who, as captain, had made every one of his companions sign an
agreement to act upon his orders, even though the vote should be
unanimously against him. He, however, yielded his opinion, in deference
to that of these experienced aeronauts. A truly extraordinary statement
is, that they fancied the wind was blowing them to the sea, and certain
destruction, whereas they were going due east, with no sea at all before
them nearer than the Caspian.
"There was great disappointment in the receipts at the Champ de Mars,
which are said to have realised only 27,000 francs, whereas 150,000 had
been calculated upon. The papers say that the public broke down the
barriers and got in for nothing, instead of paying their franc. It is
quite certain that at the moment of the ascent there could not have been
less than 50,000 people on the Champ de Mars, and on the terraces and
heights around there must have been four times that number."
Monsieur Nadar, on his return to Paris, wrote as follows:--
"Here, as briefly as possible, is the account which you asked me to
send. Yesterday evening at nine o'clock, the `Giant' was compelled to
descend near the Barcy Marsh, two leagues from Meaux, after three
violent shocks, the last of which completely turned everything in the
car topsy-turvy, and it descended on its side. The rupture of our
valve-pipe rope while travelling by night, forced us to throw out our
anchors. One of the prongs of the first anchor having broken, the
principal anchor fortunately took hold of the ground. We were able to
let out the gas, notwithstanding the violence of the wind, and the car
was set up at half-past one in the morning. Some slight contusions and
a concussion of the knee of one of the passengers--that is our receipt
in full. It is not too dear.
"A. Nadar."
This bold and zealous aeronaut unfortunately paid dearer for his
succeeding ascent as shall be seen in the next chapter.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
SECOND ASCENT OF NADAR'S "GIANT" BALLOON.
Before describing the second ascent, which was decidedly the more
adventurous, we shall give the rules laid down for his party by Monsieur
Nadar, which were remarkably stringent, and somewhat amusing:--
"1. Every traveller on board the `Geant' must, before mounting, take
knowledge of the present rules, and engage himself upon his honour to
respect them, and to make them respected, both in the letter and in the
spirit. He accepts and will obey this obligation until the descent.
"2. From the departure to the return there shall be only one command,
that of the captain. That command shall be absolute.
"3. As legal penalty cannot be enforced, the captain, having the
responsibility of the lives of the passengers, decides alone, and
without appeal, in all circumstances, the means of assuring the
execution of his orders with the aid of all under him. The captain can,
in certain cases, take the advice of the crew, but his own authority is
decisive.
"4. Every passenger declares, at the time of ascending, that he carries
with him no inflammable materials.
"5. Every passenger accepts, by his simple presence on board, his
entire part and perfect co-operation in all manoeuvres, and submits
himself to all the necessities of the service; above all, to the command
of the captain. On landing, he must not quit the balloon without
permission duly acquired.
"6. Silence must be absolutely observed when ordered by the captain.
"7. Victuals and liquors carried up by the travellers must be deposited
in the common canteen, of which the captain alone has the key, and who
regulates the distribution thereof. Passengers have no claim to
victuals and liquors, except when on board.
"8. The duration of the journey is not limited. The captain alone
decides the limitation; the same judgment decides, without appeal, the
putting down of one or more travellers in the course of the voyage.
"9. All gambling is expressly prohibited.
"10. It is absolutely forbidden to any traveller to throw overboard
ballast, or any packet whatever.
"11. No passenger can carry up with him luggage exceeding thirty pounds
in weight, and occupying more space than a travelling-bag.
"12. Except in very rare cases, of which the captain alone shall be
judge, it is absolutely forbidden to smoke on board, or on land within
the vicinity of the balloon."
The second ascent took place on the 18th of October, when Monsieur
Nadar, nothing daunted by his former experience, again went up in his
"Giant" from the Champ de Mars. On this occasion preliminaries were
managed with greater success than on the former, and the event was
regarded with much more general interest. Soldiers kept the ground; the
Emperor himself was present, and conversed with the bold aeronaut on the
subject of his balloon; George the First of Greece was there also, and
the crowd which assembled to witness the ascent surpassed all
expectation.
There were two peculiar features in this second ascent. It had been
doubted whether the balloon, which was said to be capable of raising
four-and-a-half tons, could carry more than thirteen men. In order to
set this question at rest, a short preliminary flight was made with a
rope attached to restrain the "Giant." About thirty soldiers were then
put into the car, who mounted to the extent of the rope, and were pulled
down again. The other feature was that a balloon of more ordinary
dimensions was let fly along with the "Giant," to give, by contrast, a
better idea of its size. The balloon used for this purpose was the
"Godillot," which had been used by the Emperor in the Italian campaign
for reconnoitring the enemy.
After the usual delays which are inseparable from such displays,
Monsieur Nadar, with eight friends, stepped into the car, the rope was
let go, and the "Giant" rose slowly towards the clouds, grew "small by
degrees and beautifully less," until it finally disappeared about
night-fall--being wafted along by a gentle south-easterly breeze.
Nothing more was heard of the aeronauts for the next two days, and their
friends were becoming naturally very anxious about them, when at last a
telegram came from Bremen, dated the 21st, which ran as follows:--
"Nadar's balloon descended near Eystrup in Hanover. There were nine
persons in it, of whom three were seriously, and two slightly injured."
Other telegrams quickly followed stating that Monsieur Nadar had both
legs dislocated; Monsieur Saint Felix had sustained severe fractures and
contusions; and that Madame Nadar had also been severely injured.
It was stated that the voyagers would probably all have perished if
Jules Godard (a celebrated aeronaut, who, with his brother Louis,
accompanied Nadar), had not, at the risk of his life, climbed up the
net-work, and cut a hole in the silk with a hatchet, so as to allow the
gas to escape. By so doing, he stopped the furious course of the
balloon, which was making truly gigantic bounds of from forty to fifty
yards over the ground, with a violence that would soon have knocked the
car to pieces!
A full and graphic, but inflated and sentimental account of the voyage--
which was one of real and thrilling interest--is given by one of the
voyagers, Monsieur Eugene Arnould, a reporter of the French newspaper
_La Nation_. Had Monsieur Arnould confined himself to a simple
statement of facts, he would have greatly increased the interest and
power of his description. However, we must take him as we find him, and
as his account is the most complete--and correct in the main, although
exaggerated in detail--we present it to the reader.
"At nine o'clock at night [the same night on which they started] we were
at Erquelines; we passed over Malines, and towards midnight we were in
Holland. We rose up very high, but it was necessary to come down to see
where we were. Ignorant of that, our position was a critical one.
Below, as far as we could see, were marshes, and in the distance we
could hear the roar of the sea. We threw out ballast, and, mounting
again, soon lost sight of the earth. What a night! Nobody slept, as
you may suppose, for the idea of falling into the sea had nothing
pleasant about it, and it was necessary to keep a look-out in order to
effect, if necessary, a descent. My compass showed that we were going
towards the east--that is to say, towards Germany. In the morning,
after a frugal breakfast made in the clouds, we re-descended. An
immense plain was beneath us; the villages appeared to us like
children's toys--rivers seemed like little rivulets--it was magical.
The sun shone splendidly over all. Towards eight o'clock we arrived
near a great lake; there I found out our bearings, and announced that we
were at the end of Holland, near the sea.
"We passed I know not how much time in contemplating the enchanting
scene around us; but at length we all felt the necessity of going
downwards to see where we were. Presently the balloon came so near to
the earth that we could readily distinguish the tall chimneys of a great
many flaming furnaces. `If we were to fall upon some of them,' said
Montgolfier anxiously. These furnaces told us very clearly that we were
in Belgium, and, besides, the Flemish songs that continually reached our
ears left no doubt upon the point. Godard, Nadar, all of us, called out
frequently to the people below, `Where are we?' but we got no other
answer than shouts of laughter. There were two bells in the car, and
Yon and myself rang them as hard as we could, while Nadar roared through
his speaking-trumpet. I had an opportunity of observing that the purity
of the air in no degree attenuates the quantity of false notes lodged in
the throats of certain individuals. Our aerial Charivari at length
provoked a corresponding one on earth, and we could hear dogs barking,
ducks quacking, men swearing, and women screaming. All this had a droll
effect; but time went on, the wind blew hard, it was dark night, and our
balloon drove on with prodigious rapidity, and we were not able to tell
exactly where we were. I could not see my compass, and we were not
allowed to light a lucifer match under any pretext whatsoever. From the
direction in which we had passed over Lille, we judged that we must be
going towards the sea; Louis Godard fancied that he could see
lighthouses. We descended again to within 150 yards of the earth.
Beneath us we saw a flat marshy country of sinister aspect, and
indicating plainly the neighbourhood of the coast. Every one listened
with all his ears, and many fancied they heard the murmurs of the sea.
The further we went on the more desert the country became: there was no
light whatever, and it became more and more difficult to guess where we
were going. `I am entirely out of my reckoning,' exclaimed Louis
Godard, `and my opinion is that the only thing we have to do is to
descend at once.' `What! here in the marshes!' remonstrated all of us;
`and suppose we are driven into the sea?' The balloon went driving on
still. `We cannot descend here,' said Jules Godard; `we are over
water.' Two or three of us looked over the edge of the car, and
affirmed that we were not over water, but trees. `It is water,' Jules
Godard persisted. Every one now looked out attentively; and, as the
balloon descended a little, we saw plainly that there was no water, but
without being able to say positively whether there were trees or not.
At the moment when Jules Godard thought he saw water, Nadar exclaimed,
`I see a railway.' It turned out that what Nadar took for a railway was
a canal running towards the Scheldt, which we had passed over a few
minutes before. Hurrah for balloons! They are the things to travel in;
rivers, mountains, custom-houses,--all are passed without let or
hindrance. But every medal has its reverse; and, if we were delighted
at having safely got over the Scheldt, we by no means relished the
prospect of going on to the Zuyder Zee. `Shall we go down?' asked Louis
Godard. There was a moment's pause. We consulted together. Suddenly I
uttered a cry of joy; the position of the needle of my compass indicated
that the balloon had made a half turn to the right, and was now going
due east. The aspect of the stars confirmed this assertion. Forward!
was now the cry. We threw out a little ballast, mounted higher, and
started with renewed vigour with our backs turned to the depreciated
Zuyder Zee. It was now three in the morning, and none of us had slept.
Just as we began to try to sleep a little, my diabolical compass showed
that the balloon was turning back again. `Where are you going to take
us to?' cried out Yon to the immense mass of canvas which was
oscillating above our heads. Louis Godard again proposed to descend;
but we said, `No! forward! forward!' Two hours sped away without our
being able to tell where we were. At five o'clock day broke, and broad
daylight came on with marvellous rapidity. It is true that we were at a
height of 980 metres. Novel-writers and others have so much abused
descriptions of sunrise, on mountains and on the ocean, that I shall say
little about this one, although it is not a common thing to see the
horizon on fire below the clouds. The finest Venetian paintings could
alone give an idea of the luxuriant tones of the heaven that we saw.
Such dazzling magnificence led me to wonder that there is no revival of
sun worship, since men must necessarily have some material
representation of the divinity. It is true that the sun is not made in
man's image! We now had beneath us an immense plain, the same,
probably, that we had passed over in the night. There is nothing more
pleasant at first sight, nor more monotonous in the long-run, than the
sort of country which forms at least one-third of Holland. There are
miniature woods the size of bouquets, fields admirably cultivated and
divided into little patches like gardens, rivers with extraordinary
windings, microscopic roads, coquettish-looking villages, so white and
so clean that I think the Dutch housewives must scour the very roofs of
their houses every morning. In the midst of every village there is a
jewel of a church with a shining steeple. While riding along at a
height of 700 metres, we had beneath us a picture of Paul Potter's fifty
leagues square. All at once the tableaux became animated. The people
below had perceived the balloon. We heard cries expressive of
astonishment, fright, and even of anger; but the feeling of fright
seemed to predominate. We distinctly saw women in their chemises look
hurriedly out of windows and then rush back again. We saw chubby boys
looking at us, and blubbering as if they were mad. Some men, more
determined than the rest, fired off guns at us. I saw several mammas
pointing us out to stubborn babies, with an attitude which seemed to say
that our balloon was Old Bogy. Old women raised their hands against us,
and at their signal many ran away, making the sign of the cross. It is
evident that in some of these villages we were taken to be the devil in
person. On this point it is _apropos_ to cite a letter communicated to
me which has been addressed to the _Courrier de Hanovre_. I translate
it textually:--
"`This morning, at about six o'clock, we saw passing over our heads, at
a prodigious height, an immense round form, to which was suspended some
thing which looked like a square house of a red colour. Some people
pretend to have seen animated beings in this strange machine, and to
have heard issuing from it superhuman cries. What think you, Mr
Editor? The whole country is in a state of alarm, and it will be long
before our people recover their equanimity.'
"At seven a.m. we crossed over a lake near Yssel; the wind then again
pushed us in a new direction, nearly at right angles with that which we
were taking before. In less than a quarter of an hour the balloon got
into Westphalia near Renheim; then we crossed the great river Ems, the
towns of Rheine and Ibbenburen, and returned to Hanover a little above
Osnabruck. We traversed, without deigning to take notice of them, a
little chain of mountains, and by way, no doubt, of relaxation after so
long a journey, went all round a lake which is called in German
Dummersee. We then got into a great plain, through which runs a road.
At this time the balloon became almost motionless. The reason of this
was, that the heat of the sun had caused the gas to expand. The
thermometer was then at 145 degrees (about 59 degrees Fahrenheit [No!
editor]). Louis Godard was very uneasy about this dilation. After two
or three oscillations, our aerial courser decided upon going off rapidly
in an eastern direction, with about two degrees variation towards the
north. This course would have taken us to Hamburg and the Baltic; but
we were all so completely absorbed by the splendour of the tableau
before us that we took little note of the change. Our hippogriff passed
over Wagenfeld-Steyerberg, where there is a river which flows into the
Weser. We came within sight of the great river and Nienburg, a
considerable town on one of its banks. We saw a steamboat going down
the river from the town. The view here was charming. A rustling of the
silk of our balloon made us look upwards; the monster, under the
influence of the sun, now very hot, was palpably swelling. As it would
have been supremely ridiculous, after having made such a first-rate
journey, to have treated the inhabitants of Nienburg with the spectacle
of seeing us blown up--to say nothing of the consequences of such a
catastrophe to our own limbs--we resolved to come down. The remaining
bags of ballast were got in order, the ropes and the anchors prepared,
and Godard opened the safety-valve. `The monster is disgorging!'
exclaimed Thirion. And the balloon did vomit forth its gas with a
tremendous noise, which may be compared to the snoring of some gigantic
animal. While our companion made this observation, we were descending
at the rate of two metres to the second. `To the ropes! to the ropes!--
hold on well!' cried the brothers Godard, who seemed quite in their
element, `take care of the shock!' Every one climbed up to the ropes
which attach the car to the circular handles underneath the balloon.
Madame Nadar, whose _sang-froid_ was truly magnificent, grasped two
large ropes with her delicate hands. Nadar did the like, but at the
same time put his arms round his wife so as to protect her body. I was
on one side towards the middle of the sort of hurdle which serves as a
balcony. I was on my knees and clinging to two ropes. Montgolfier,
Thirion, and Saint Felix were near me. The balloon descended so rapidly
that it gave us the vertigo. The air, which we had left so calm above,
became a violent wind as we neared the earth. `We are going to throw
down the anchors,' said Godard, `hold tight!' Ah! the car struck the
earth with tremendous violence. I cannot imagine how it was that my
arms were not broken. After the first terrible shock the balloon went
up again, but the safety-valve was opened--it again fell--and we
suffered a second shock, if not more violent, at least more painful to
us than the first. Up we went again; the balloon dragged its anchors.
Several times we thought we should be thrown out. `The anchors are
broken,' exclaimed Godard. The balloon beat the ground with its head,
like a kite when it falls down. It was horrible. On we went towards
Nienburg, at the rate of ten leagues an hour. Three large trees were
cut through by the car, as clean as if by a woodman's hatchet. One
small anchor still remained to us. We threw it down, and it carried
away the roof of a house. If the balloon had dragged us through the
town we should, inevitably, have been cut to pieces. But fortunately it
rose a little and then bumped against the ground again with as much
violence as before. Every one of these shocks wrenched our limbs; to
complete our misfortunes the rope of the safety-valve got loose from us,
and the safety-valve shutting up we lost all hope of the balloon
emptying itself. It went on by bounds of twenty-five, thirty, and forty
metres from the earth, and continued to fall upon its head. Everything
that stood in the way of the car was dashed to pieces.
"Jules Godard then tried, and accomplished, an act of sublime heroism.
He clambered up into the netting, the shocks of which were so terrible
that three times he fell on my head. At length he reached the cord of
the valve, opened it, and the gas having a way of escape the monster
ceased to rise but it still shot along in a horizontal line with
prodigious rapidity. There were we squatting down upon the frail osier
car. `Take care!' we cried, when a tree was in the way. We turned from
it, and the tree was broken; but the balloon was discharging its gas,
and if the immense plain we were crossing had yet a few leagues, we were
saved. But suddenly a forest appeared in the horizon; we must leap out
at whatever risk, for the car would be dashed to pieces at the first
collision with those trees. I got down into the car, and raising myself
I know not how,--for I suffered from a wound in my knees, my trousers
were torn,--I jumped, and made I know not how many revolutions, and fell
upon my head. After a minute's dizziness I rose. The car was then far
off. By the aid of a stick I dragged myself to the forest, and having
gone a few steps I heard some groans. Saint Felix was stretched on the
soil frightfully disfigured; his body was one wound; he had an arm
broken, the chest torn, and an ankle dislocated. The car had
disappeared. After crossing a river I heard a cry. Nadar was stretched
on the ground with a dislocated thigh; his wife had fallen into the
river. Another companion was shattered. We occupied ourselves with
Saint Felix, and Nadar and his wife. In trying to assist the latter I
was nearly drowned, for I fell into the water and sank. They picked me
up again, and I found the bath had done me good. By the assistance of
the inhabitants the salvage was got together. Vehicles were brought;
they placed us upon straw. My knees bled; my loins and head seemed to
be like mince-meat; but I did not lose my presence of mind an instant,
and for a second I felt humiliated at looking from the truss of straw at
those clouds which in the night I had had under my feet. It was in this
way we reached Rethem, in Hanover.