Experiment in Montgolfiers--Roziers and Proust--The Duke of
Chartres--The Comte d’Artois--Voyage of the Abbe Carnus to
Rodez.
The longest course travelled by Montgolfiere balloons, and the highest
elevation reached by them, were achieved by Roziers and Proust with the
Montgolfiere la Marie Antoinette, at Versailles, on the 23rd of June,
1784. Roziers himself has left us a picturesque narrative of this
excursion from Versailles to Compiegne. He says:--
“The Montgolfiere rose at first very gently in a diagonal line,
presenting an imposing spectacle. Like a vessel which has just been
precipitated from the stocks, this astonishing machine hung balanced
in the air for some time, and seemed to have got beyond human control.
These irregular movements intimidated a portion of the spectators, who,
fearing that, should there be a fall, their lives would be in danger,
scattered away with great speed from under us. After having fed my fire,
I saluted the people, who answered me in the most cordial manner. I
had time to remark some faces, in which there was a mixed expression
of apprehension and joy. In continuing our upward progress, I perceived
that an upper current of air made the Montgolfiere bend, but on
increasing the heat, we rose above the current. The size of objects on
the earth now began perceptibly to diminish, which gave us an idea of
the distance at which we were from them. It was then that we became
visible to Paris and its suburbs, and so great was our elevation that
many in the capital thought we were directly over their heads.
“When we had arrived among the clouds, the earth disappeared from our
view. Now a thick mist would envelop us, then a clear space showed us
where we were, and again we rose through a mass of snow, portions of
which stuck to our gallery. Curious to know how high we could ascend, we
resolved to increase our fire and raise the heat to the highest degree,
by raising our grating, and holding up our fagots suspended on the ends
of our forks.
“Having gained these snowy elevations, and not being able to mount
higher, we wandered about for some time in regions which we felt were
now visited by man for the first time. Isolated and separated entirely
from nature, we perceived beneath us only enormous masses of snow,
which, reflecting the sunshine, filled the firmament with a glorious
light. We remained eight minutes at this elevation, 11,732 feet above
the earth. This situation, however agreeable it might have been to the
painter or the poet, promised little to the man of science in the way
of acquiring knowledge; and so we determined, eighteen minutes after our
departure, to return through the clouds to the earth. We had hardly left
this snowy abyss, when the most pleasant scene succeeded the most
dreary one. The broad plains appeared before our view in all their
magnificence. No snow, no clouds were now to be seen, except around the
horizon, where a few clouds seemed to rest on the earth. We passed in a
minute from winter to spring. We saw the immeasurable earth covered
with towns and villages, which at that distance appeared only so many
isolated mansions surrounded with gardens. The rivers which wound about
in all directions seemed no more than rills for the adornment of these
mansions; the largest forests looked mere clumps or groves, and the
meadows and broad fields seemed no more than garden plots. These
marvellous tableaux, which no painter could render, reminded us of the
fairy metamorphoses; only with this difference, that we were beholding
upon a mighty scale what imagination could only picture in little. It is
in such a situation that the soul rises to the loftiest height, that the
thoughts are exalted and succeed each other with the greatest rapidity.
Travelling at this elevation, our fire did not demand continual
attention, and we could easily walk about the gallery. We were as much
at peace upon our lofty balcony as we should have been upon the terrace
of a mansion, enjoying all the pictures which unrolled themselves before
us continually, without experiencing any of the giddiness which has
disturbed so many persons. Having broken my fork in my exertions to
raise the balloon, I went to obtain another one. On my way to get it, I
encountered my companion, M. Proust. We ought never to have been on
the same side of the balloon, for a capsize and the escape of all our
hydrogen gas might have been the result. As it was, so well was the
machine ballasted, that the only effect of our being on the one side
made the balloon incline a little in that direction. The winds, although
very considerable, caused us no uneasiness, and we only knew the
swiftness of our progress through the air by the rapidity with which the
villages seemed to fly away from under our feet; so that it seemed, from
the tranquillity with which we moved, that we were borne along by the
diurnal movement of the globe. Often we wished to descend, in order
to learn what the people were crying to us the simplicity of our
arrangements enabled us to rise, to descend, to move in horizontal or
oblique lines, as we pleased and as often as we considered necessary,
without altogether landing.”
When they came to Luzarche, the delighted aeronauts resolved to land.
Already the people were testifying their pleasure at seeing them. Men
came running together from all directions, while all the animals rushed
away with equal precipitation, no doubt taking the balloon for some
wild beast. Finding that their course would lead them straight against
certain houses, the aeronauts again increased their fire, and, slightly
rising, escaped the buildings that had been in their way. Shortly
afterwards they safely landed forty miles from the spot from which they
had started.
It was not only the man of science or the mechanician that devoted
himself to the task of taking possession of the new empire, but the
nobles gave their hands to the aeronauts, and humbly asked the favour of
an ascent. The king had addressed letters to the Brothers Montgolfier,
and the marvellous invention had become an affair of state. The princes
of the blood and the nobles of the court considered it an honour to
count among the number of their friends a celebrated aeronaut.
The Count d’Artois, afterwards Charles X., and the Duke de Chartres,
father of Louis Philippe, made experiments in aerial navigation. The
chemists Alban and Vallet made a magnificent balloon for the Count, who
went up many times in it, with several persons of all ranks.
Already at St. Cloud, the Duke of Chartres, afterwards Philippe Egalite,
had, on the 15th of July, 1784, made, with the Brothers Robert, an
ascent which put their courage to terrible tests. The hydrogen gas
balloon was oblong, sixty feet high and forty feet in diameter, and
it had been constructed upon a plan supplied by Meunier. In order to
obviate the use of the valve, he had placed inside the balloon a smaller
globe, filled with ordinary air. This was done on the supposition that,
when the balloon rose high, the hydrogen being rarefied would compress
the little globe within, and press out of it a quantity of ordinary air
equal to the amount of its dilation.
At eight o’clock, the Brothers Robert--Collin and Hullin--and the Duke
of Chartres, ascended in presence of an immense multitude. The nearest
ranks kneeled down to allow those behind to have a view of the departure
of the balloon, which disappeared among the clouds amid the acclamations
of the prostrate multitude. The machine, obedient to the stormy and
contrary winds which it met, turned several times completely round. The
helm, which had been fitted to the machine, and the two oars, gave such
a purchase to the winds that the voyagers, already surrounded by the
clouds, cut them away. But the oscillations continued, and the little
globe inside not being suspended with cords, fell down in such an
unfortunate manner as to close up the opening of the large balloon, by
means of which provision had been made for the egress of the gas now
dilated by the heat of the sun, which poured down its rays, a sudden
gust having cleared the space of the clouds. It was feared that the case
of the balloon would crack, and the whole thing collapse, in spite of
the efforts of the aeronauts to push back the smaller balloon from the
opening. Then the Duke of Chartres seized one of the flags they carried,
and with the lance-head pierced the balloon in two places. A rent of
about nine feet was the consequence, and the balloon began to descend
with amazing rapidity. They would have fallen into a lake had they not
thrown over 60 lbs. of ballast, which caused them to rise a little, and
pass over to the shore, where they got safely to the earth.
The expedition lasted only a few minutes. The Duke of Chartres was
rallied by his enemies, who accused him of cowardice; and Monjoie, his
historian, making allusion to the combat of Ouessant, says that he had
given proofs of his cowardice in the three elements--earth, air, and
water.
M. Gray, professor at the seminary of Rodez, presented us some years ago
with the following letter from the Abbe Carnus, upon the aerial voyage
which he undertook, August 6th, 1784:--
“The progress of the Montgolfiere was so sudden that one might almost
have believed that it arose all inflated and furnished out of some chasm
in the earth The air was calm, the sky without clouds, the sun
very strong. Our fuel and instruments were put into the gallery, my
companion, M. Louchet, was at his post, and I took mine. At twenty
minutes past eight the cords were loosened, we waved a farewell to the
spectators, and while two cannon-shots announced our departure, we were
already high above the loftiest buildings.
“To the general acclamations of the crowd succeeded a profound silence.
The spectators, half in fear, half in admiration, stood motionless, with
eyes fixed, and gazing eagerly at the superb machine, which rose almost
vertically with rapidity and also with grandeur. Some women, and even
some men, fainted away; others raised their hands to heaven; others shed
tears; all grew pale at the sight of our bright fire.
“‘We have quitted the earth,’ said I to my companion.
“‘I compliment you on the fact,’ he answered; ‘keep up the fire!’
“A truss of hay, steeped in spirits of wine accelerated the swiftness of
our ascent. I cast my glance upon the town, which seemed to flee rapidly
from under our feet. Terrestrial objects had already lost their shape
and size. The burning heat which I felt at first now gave place to a
temperature of the most agreeable kind, and the air which we breathed
seemed to contain healthful elements unknown to dwellers on the lower
earth.
“‘How well I am!’ I said to Louchet; ‘how are you?’
“‘As well as can be. Would that I could dispatch a message to the
earth!’
“Immediately I threw over a roll of paper on which I had written the
words, ‘All well on board the City of Rodez.’
“At thirty-two minutes past eight our elevation was at least 6,000 feet
above sea level. A flame from our fire, rising from eighteen to twenty
feet, sent us up another 1,000 feet. It was then that our machine was
seen by every spectator within a circuit of nine miles, and it appeared
to be right over the heads of all of them.
“‘Send us up out of sight,’ said my adventurous confrere.
“I had to moderate his ardour--a larger fire would have burnt our
balloon.
“From our moving observatory the most splendid view developed itself.
The boundaries of the horizon were vastly extended. The capital of the
Rouergue appeared to be no more than a group of stones, one of which
seemed to rise to the height of two or three feet. This was no other
than the superb tower of the cathedral. Fertile slopes, agreeable
valleys, lofty precipices, waste lands, ancient castles perched upon
frowning rocks, these form the endlessly varied spectacle which the
Rouergue and the neighbouring provinces present to the view of those who
traverse the surface of the earth. But how different is the scene to the
aerial voyager! We could perceive only a vast country, perfectly round,
and seemingly a little elevated in the middle, irregularly marked with
verdure, but without inhabitants, without towns, valleys, rivers, or
mountains. Living beings no longer existed for us; the forests were
changed into what looked like grassy plains; the ranges of the
Cantal and the Cevennes had disappeared; we looked in vain for the
Mediterranean, and the Pyrenees seemed only a long series of piles
of snow, connected at their bases. Our own balloon, which from Rodez
appeared about the size of a marble, was the only object that for us
retained its natural dimensions. What wonderful sensations then arose
within us! I had often reflected upon the works of nature; their
magnificence had always filled me with admiration. In this soul-stirring
moment how beautiful did nature seem--how grand! With what majesty did
it strike my imagination. Never did man appear to me before such an
excellent being His latest triumph over the elements recalled to my mind
his other conquests of nature. My companion was animated with the same
sentiments, and more than once we cried out, ‘Vive Montgolfier! Vive
Roziers! Vivent ceux qui ont du courage et de la constance!’
“In the meantime our fuel was getting near the end. In eighteen minutes
we had run a distance of 12,000 feet. ‘Make your observations while I
attend to the fire,’ said my companion to me. I examined the barometer,
the thermometer, and the compass, and having sealed up a small bottle of
the air at this elevation, I asked my companion to reduce the fire. We
descended 1,800 feet, and at this height I filled another bottle with
air.
“Afterwards we felt the refreshing breath of a slight breeze, which
carried us gently toward the south-east. In six minutes we had run
18,000 feet. Then, having only sufficient fuel to enable us to choose
the place of our descent, we considered whether we should not bring our
aerial voyage to a termination. We had neither lake nor forest to fear,
and we were secure against danger from fire, as we could detach the
grating at some distance from the earth. At fifty-eight minutes past
eight all our fuel was exhausted, except two bundles of straw, of
four pounds each, which we reserved for our descent. The balloon came
gradually down, and terrestrial objects began again to resume their
proper forms and dimensions. The animals fled at the sight of our
balloon, which seemed likely to crush them in its fall. Horsemen were
obliged to dismount and lead their frightened horses. Terrified by such
an unwonted sight, the labourers in the fields abandoned their work. We
were not more than 600 feet from the earth. We threw on the two bundles
of straw, but still gradually descended. The grating was then detached,
and I had no difficulty in leaping to the ground. But now a most
surprising and unlooked-for event happened. M. Louchet had not been able
to descend at the same moment as myself, and the balloon, now free from
my weight, immediately re-ascended with the speed of a bird, bearing
away my companion. I followed him with my eyes, and it was to my
agreeable surprise that I heard him crying to me, ‘All is well; fear
not!’ though it was not without a species of jealousy that I saw him
mounting up to the height of 1,400 or 1,500 feet. The balloon, after
having run a distance of 3,600 feet in a horizontal direction, began
gently to descend at four minutes past nine, at the village of Inieres,
after having travelled 42,000 feet from the point of departure. When it
had touched the ground it bumped up again two or three feet. M. Louchet
jumped out, and seized one of the ropes, but had much difficulty in
holding the balloon in hand. He cried to the frightened peasants to come
and help him. But they seemed to regard him as a dangerous magician,
or as a monster, and they feared to touch the ropes lest they might be
swallowed up by the balloon. Soon afterwards I came to the rescue. The
balloon was in as thorough repair as when we began our journey. We then
pressed out the hot air, folded up the envelope, placed it upon a small
cart drawn by two oxen, and drove off with it.”