On Monday, November 7, 1836, Mr. Monck Mason and Mr. Robert Holland
accompanied Mr. Green in his large balloon from London to Weilburg, in
the grand duchy of Nassau, in Germany, an extent of 500 British miles,
achieved in the short space of eighteen hours. The route lay through a
considerable portion of the five kingdoms of England, France, Belgium,
Prussia, Germany, and the Archduchy of Nassau; whilst a long succession
of cities, including London, Rochester, Canterbury, Dover, Calais,
Cassel, Ypres, Courtray, Lille, Oudenarde, Ath, and Brussels, (with the
renowned fields of Waterloo and Genappe,) Namur, Liege, Spa, Malmedy,
Coblentz, and a whole host of intermediate villages, were all brought
within the compass of the aeronauts' horizon; their superior elevation
and various aberrations enabling them to extend far beyond what might be
expected from a hasty consideration of the line connecting the two
extremities of the route. The voyagers returned to London by steam, and
Mr. Monck Mason afterwards published an interesting narrative of the
æronautical voyage.
The appearance which the balloon exhibited previous to the ascent was
very strange. Provisions calculated for a fortnight's consumption, in
case of emergency; ballast to the amount of upwards of a ton in weight,
disposed in bags of different sizes, duly registered and marked;
together with an unusual supply of cordage, implements, and other
accessories to an aërial excursion, occupied the bottom of the car:
while, all around the hoop, and elsewhere appended, hung cloaks,
carpet-bags, barrels of wood and copper, a coffee-warmer by means of
slaked lime, barometers, telescopes, lamps, wine and spirit flasks, with
many other articles designed to serve the purposes of a voyage to
regions where, once forgotten, nothing could be supplied.
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