CONCLUSION
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
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
quotation marks retained.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.