THE BALLOON IN WARFARE
But there is another practical use for the balloon to which we must
now refer, and that a most important one--its employment in war-time.
It was not long after the invention of this ship of the skies that
soldiers began to realise what a valuable aid it might be to them
in times of battle, enabling them to see inside a camp, fort, or
beleaguered city, or watch the enemy’s movements from afar off. The
opportunity for first putting the matter to the test very soon arose.
Within a very few years of the earliest balloon experiments in France
there commenced in that very country the dreadful French Revolution,
and soon the nation found itself at war with all the world, and forced
to hold its own, alone, against the armies of Europe. This danger
quickened the minds of all to the importance of making use of every
possible means of defence in their power. It was suggested that the
newly discovered balloon might be turned to account, and immediately a
school for military ballooning was established near Paris. Fifty young
military students were trained in the new art, and suitable balloons
were provided. The value of their work was soon apparent. In June 1794
was fought the battle of Fleurus, between the French and Austrians.
Before the fight a balloon party had carefully observed the position of
the Austrian forces, and, through the information they gave, the French
were able to gain a speedy and decisive victory. In this way, and at
this early stage, the value of the war balloon was at once established.
Curiously enough, Napoleon would make no use of balloons in his
campaigns, and even did away with the balloon school at Paris. The
reason given for his prejudice is a curious one. At the time of his
coronation a large, unmanned balloon, gaily decorated, and carrying
thousands of lights, was sent up from Paris during the evening’s
illuminations. It was a very beautiful object, and behaved splendidly,
sailing away into the night, amidst great popular rejoicing, until it
was lost to sight in the darkness. But at daybreak next morning it was
seen approaching the city of Rome, where it presently arrived, actually
hovering over St. Peter’s and the Vatican. Then, as if its mission were
fulfilled, it settled to earth, and finally fell in Lake Bracciano. But
as it fell it rent itself, and left a portion of the crown with which
it was ornamented on the tomb of the Roman Emperor Nero. Napoleon,
who was always a superstitious man, saw in this extraordinary voyage
some dreadful forecast of his own fate. He was much disturbed, and
forebade the matter ever to be mentioned in his presence; nor would he
henceforward have any more to do with balloons.
[Illustration: AMERICAN WAR BALLOON.]
Military balloons were used by the French again, however, during
their war in Africa in 1830. The Austrians also used them in 1849,
and it is said the Russians had them at the siege of Sebastopol in
the Crimean War. A Montgolfier balloon was made use of by the French
in 1862 at the battle of Solferino; and the Americans also employed
balloons during the Civil War a year later. The American war balloons
were comparatively small ones, inflated with hydrogen. The hydrogen
was manufactured in the way already described, by pouring dilute
sulphuric acid upon scrap-iron. For making the gas upon the field
two large tanks of wood called “generators” were used. In these the
water and scrap-iron were placed and the acid poured upon them, the
gas produced being carried to the balloon through pipes, passing first
through vessels filled with lime-water to cool and purify it. When on
the march four waggons were sufficient to carry the whole apparatus.
The inflation, which took some time, was made as close to the scene of
action as was considered safe, and when the balloon was once full a
party of men could easily tow it about to where it was needed.
But the time when the balloon was most largely and most usefully used
in time of war was during the Siege of Paris. In the month of September
1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, Paris was closely invested by
the Prussian forces, and for eighteen long weeks lay besieged and cut
off from all the rest of the world. No communication with the city
was possible either by road, river, rail, or telegraph, nor could the
inhabitants convey tidings of their plight save by one means alone.
Only the passage of the air was open to them.
Quite at the beginning of the siege it occurred to the Parisians that
they might use balloons to escape from the beleaguered town, and pass
over the heads of the enemy to safety beyond; and inquiry was at once
made to discover what aeronautical resources were at their command.
It was soon found that with only one or two exceptions the balloons
actually in existence within the walls were unserviceable or unsuitable
for the work on hand, being mostly old ones which had been laid aside
as worthless. One lucky discovery was, however, made. Two professional
aeronauts, of well-proved experience and skill, were in Paris at the
time. These were MM. Godard and Yon, both of whom had been in London
only a short time before in connection with a huge captive balloon
which was then being exhibited there. They at once received orders to
establish two balloon factories, and begin making a large number of
balloons as quickly as possible. For their workshops they were given
the use of two great railway stations, then standing idle and deserted.
No better places for the purpose could be imagined, for under the great
glass roofs there was plenty of space, and the work went on apace.
As the balloons were intended to make only one journey each, plain
white or coloured calico (of which there was plenty in the city),
covered with quick-drying varnish, was considered good enough for their
material. Hundreds of men and women were employed at the two factories;
and altogether some sixty balloons were turned out during the siege.
Their management was entrusted to sailors, who, of all men, seemed
most fitted for the work. The only previous training that could be
given them was to sling them up to the roof of the railway stations in
a balloon car, and there make them go through the actions of throwing
out ballast, dropping the anchor, and pulling the valve-line. This was,
of course, very like learning to swim on dry land; nevertheless, these
amateurs made, on the whole, very fair aeronauts.
But before the first of the new balloons was ready experiments were
already being made with the few old balloons then in Paris. Two were
moored captive at different ends of the town to act as observation
stations from whence the enemy’s movements could be watched. Captive
ascents were made in them every few hours. Meanwhile M. Duruof, a
professional aeronaut, made his escape from the city in an old and
unskyworthy balloon called “Le Neptune,” descending safely outside the
enemy’s lines, while another equally successful voyage was made with
two small balloons fastened together.
And then, as soon as the possibility of leaving Paris by this means was
fully proved, an important new development arose. So far, as was shown,
tidings of the besieged city could be conveyed to the outside world;
but how was news from without to reach those imprisoned within? The
problem was presently solved in a most ingenious way.
There was in Paris, when the siege commenced, a society or club of
pigeon-fanciers who were specially interested in the breeding and
training of “carrier” or “homing” pigeons. The leaders of this club
now came forward and suggested to the authorities that, with the aid
of the balloons, their birds might be turned to practical account
as letter-carriers. The idea was at once taken up, and henceforward
every balloon that sailed out of Paris contained not only letters and
despatches, but also a number of properly trained pigeons, which, when
liberated, would find their way back to their homes within the walls of
the besieged city.
When the pigeons had been safely brought out of Paris, and fallen
into friendly hands beyond the Prussian forces, there were attached
to the tail feathers of each of them goose quills, about two inches
long, fastened on by a silken thread or thin wire. Inside these
were tiny scraps of photographic film, not much larger than postage
stamps, upon which a large number of messages had been photographed by
microscopic photography. So skilfully was this done that each scrap of
film could contain 2500 messages of twenty words each. A bird might
easily carry a dozen of these films, for the weight was always less
than one gramme, or 15½ grains. One bird, in fact, arrived in Paris
on the 3rd of February carrying eighteen films, containing altogether
40,000 messages. To avoid accidents, several copies of the same film
were made, and attached to different birds. When any of the pigeons
arrived in Paris their despatches were enlarged and thrown on a screen
by a magic-lantern, then copied and sent to those for whom they were
intended.
This system of balloon and pigeon post went on during the whole siege.
Between sixty and seventy balloons left the city, carrying altogether
nearly 200 people, and two and a half million letters, weighing in
all about ten tons. The greater number of these arrived in safety,
while the return journeys, accomplished by the birds, were scarcely
less successful. The weather was very unfavourable during most of the
time, and cold and fogs prevented many pigeons from making their way
back to Paris. Of 360 birds brought safely out of the city by balloon
only about 60 returned, but these had carried between them some 100,000
messages.
Of the balloons themselves two, each with its luckless aeronaut, were
blown out to sea and never heard of more. Two sailed into Germany and
were captured by the enemy, three more came down too soon and fell into
the hands of the besieging army near Paris, and one did not even get
as far as the Prussian lines. Others experienced accidents and rough
landings in which their passengers were more or less injured. Moreover,
each balloon which sailed by day from the city became at once a mark
for the enemy’s fire; so much so that before long it became necessary
to make all the ascents by night, under cover of darkness.
They were brave men indeed who dared face the perils of a night voyage
in an untried balloon, manned by an unskilled pilot, and exposed to
the fire of the enemy, into whose hands they ran the greatest risk
of falling. It is small wonder there was much excitement in Paris
when it became known that the first of the new balloons made during
the siege was to take away no less a personage than M. Gambetta, the
great statesman, who was at the time, and for long after, the leading
man in France. He made his escape by balloon on the 7th of October,
accompanied by his secretary and an aeronaut, and managed to reach a
safe haven, though not before they had been vigorously fired at by shot
and shell, and M. Gambetta himself had actually been grazed on the hand
by a bullet.
Another distinguished man who hazarded the same perilous feat, though
for a very different reason, was M. Janssen, a famous astronomer. On
the 22nd of December of that year there was to take place an important
total eclipse of the sun, which would be visible in Spain and Algeria.
It had long been M. Janssen’s intention to observe this eclipse, and
for this purpose he had prepared a special telescope and apparatus; but
when the time drew near he found himself and his instruments shut up in
besieged Paris, with no possible means of escape except the dangerous
and desperate hazard of a voyage by sky.
But so great was the astronomer’s enthusiasm for his work, that he
resolved to brave even this risk. Taking the essential parts of his
telescope with him, and, as aeronaut, an active young sailor, he set
sail in the darkness of a winter’s morning, long before dawn, passed
safely over the enemy’s lines, and continued the voyage till nearly
mid-day, when they sighted the sea, and came down near the mouth of the
river Loire, having travelled 300 miles in little more than five hours.
Neither Janssen or his telescope were injured in the descent, though
the wind was high at the time; and both reached Algeria in time for the
eclipse. It must have been a most bitter disappointment to the ardent
astronomer, after all his exertions, that when the great day arrived
the sun was hidden by clouds, and he was unable to observe the sight
for which he had risked so much.
Since the Franco-Prussian war, military ballooning has been largely
developed, and now all great armies possess their properly equipped
and trained balloon corps. The balloons in use in the British Army at
the present day are made, not of silk, but of gold-beater’s skin, a
very thin, but extremely tough membrane prepared from the insides of
oxen. This is, of course, much stronger and more durable than ordinary
balloon fabric, but much more expensive. The balloons are comparatively
small ones, of 10,000 feet capacity, and are inflated with hydrogen.
The hydrogen is now no longer made upon the field, but is manufactured
in special factories, and carried compressed in large steel cylinders.
By this means the time occupied in filling the balloon is much reduced,
but the weight of the cylinders is very great. As will be remembered,
balloons were made of considerable use during the late Boer War. At the
siege of Ladysmith they were thought of much value in directing the
fire of the British Artillery, and again at Spion Kop and Magersfontein
are said to have done good service.
So far we have shown of what use balloons may be in times of peace and
war. Every year sees fresh improvements and developments in balloons
for military purposes and in those employed for making meteorological
and other similar observations; and there is no doubt that great
advances may shortly be expected in both these directions. But there
is yet another and totally different science to which the balloon may
lend its aid, and help greatly to add to our knowledge; and this is the
science of geography, or the study of the earth’s surface.
One of the earliest ideas suggested by Montgolfier’s invention was that
the balloon might be turned to practical account in the exploring of
unknown and inaccessible tracts of the world. It was suggested that
in a balloon men might sail over and survey country that they were
not able to reach in any other way. Deserts could be crossed in this
fashion, forests and mountain ranges, and even the desolate ice-tracts
of the North and South Poles.
All this is, in truth, perfectly possible, and another day may be
accomplished; but at present great difficulties and dangers stand in
the way of exploring by balloon, and up to the present time, with one
great exception, no special attempt has been made. It has already been
mentioned that both Wise and Green wished to cross the Atlantic by sky,
and indeed at the present moment plans are actually being made on the
Continent for a similar voyage. This, however, can scarcely be called
exploring. Other suggestions which may presently be put to the test are
the crossing of the Sahara, and also of another great desert in Central
Arabia, into which no white man has ever succeeded in penetrating.
Recent expeditions both to the North and South Poles have also taken
with them balloons to be used captive for the observation of the state
of the ice ahead, and for obtaining wide views around.
The one great attempt at exploring by balloon which has so far been
made has, unfortunately, met with hopeless and terrible disaster--this
was the ill-fated voyage to the North Pole of Andrée and his
companions. The idea of reaching the Pole by balloon was first proposed
many years ago, and both French and English aeronauts at different
times have made suggestions as to the best way in which it might be
accomplished. Nothing, however, was attempted until about the year
1894, when M. S. A. Andrée, a well-known Swedish balloonist, who had
already met with exciting experiences in the air, made up his mind
actually to risk the venture.
His plan was to take a suitable balloon, and the apparatus for
inflating it, to a place as far north as a ship could safely go, then
to fill the balloon and wait for a favourable wind which should carry
him right over the Pole and beyond until inhabited country was reached.
By the summer of 1896 all his preparations were complete. His balloon
was an enormous one, capable of holding 162,000 cubic feet of gas, and
was fitted with a rudder sail and a long trail-rope, by means of which
Andrée hoped to be able to some extent to steer his course across the
ice. Two companions were to accompany him on his voyage, and on June
7th the party embarked with all their apparatus, and were conveyed to
Spitzbergen.
They landed at Dane’s Island, where their first work was to build
themselves a shed. They then got their gas-making apparatus into order,
and filled the balloon, and by the 27th of July were all ready for a
start. But the wind was contrary, and day after day they waited in vain
for a change, until at last the captain of the ship which had brought
them warned them they would be frozen in for the winter unless they
returned without delay. Very reluctantly, therefore, they abandoned
their venture for that year, and went home, leaving behind them the
shed and gas-generator for another occasion.
The winter passed, and by the end of next May they were back again at
Dane’s Island. Their shed and apparatus had suffered damage during
their absence, and had to be repaired, and their preparations were
not complete until the end of June. But again the wind was contrary,
and for three weeks more they waited impatiently. All this while the
balloon remained inflated, and by the long delay must have lost a
considerable amount of its buoyancy. At last the wind changed, and
though it was not exactly in the direction they wished, being a little
west of south, instead of due south, Andrée felt he could wait no
longer, and at half-past two in the afternoon of July 11th set sail,
with his two friends, on his daring voyage.
What followed is soon told. Eleven days later one of the carrier
pigeons taken by Andrée in his balloon was picked up by a fishing-boat
off Spitzbergen. Fastened to it was the following message:--“July 13th,
12.30 P.M. 82° 2´ north lat., 15° 5´ east long. Good journey eastward.
All goes well on board.--ANDRÉE.”
This was the latest news ever heard of the ill-fated voyagers. Later on
two of Andrée’s buoys, thrown out from the balloon, were found; but the
messages these contained were dated on the evening of July 11th, only
a few hours after the start. If the date of the first found message
can be relied on, it would seem that after forty-eight hours Andrée’s
balloon was still sailing well, and he had already accomplished the
longest voyage aloft ever made.
Of his subsequent fate, and that of his companions, nothing is known.
Search expeditions have failed to find any trace of them or of the
balloon, and the many rumours received have been proved to be false.
There can be no possible reason to doubt that these brave men perished
in their daring attempt, and that their bones lie in the Arctic Sea or
in the waste of ice and snow that surrounds the Pole.