then a large silver goblet and a bottle of champagne were handed in;
when we--that is the king and the aëronaut only--were let up to drink
_Hoch_, to the success of the society.
His majesty accorded me a most fraternal greeting, in the midst of
which the people cheered vociferously.
As if to prolong the compliment, the king continued some time with his
arms round my shoulders, and this appeared to be the signal for renewed
cheering, but Dick B---- who had charge of the ropes, and who knew how
such German salutations bothered and perplexed an Englishman, gave a
sudden jerk to the ropes, by which his majesty was reminded that he did
not occupy an earthly throne; and thus freed from such distinguished
favours, I gave the signal to haul down, when other members of the club
had, each according to his merit, a ride in the balloon car.
The festivities and the rope ascents were kept up all that day and
night. So far as the balloon was concerned, its duties were at an end
by daybreak, but as the “Sylph” contained sufficient gas to raise
me--although it had not been replenished for forty-eight hours--I made
up my mind, instead of letting it out, to ascend to a great height, and
witness the sunrise.
Although everybody appeared to be fagged out, and I was more fitted
myself for rest than travelling, still the opportunity of so glorious a
spectacle on a calm autumnal morning was not to be lost.
I therefore hurried on my departure; and slipped away with an easy
ascending power, travelling very low for a few miles of country, when
the gas began to expand more rapidly, and the balloon mounted up with
an accelerated speed, as if it were a thing of life, apprehensive of
being late to usher in the cheering king of day.
The barometer at starting was 29·70, and Reaumur’s thermometer was
9°. Just before six o’clock the former had fallen in the course of
forty minutes to 17·50, and the latter to -3° or seven degrees of
frost according to Fahrenheit. The effects of this amount of cold were
doubtless greater, owing to fatigue, damp boots, and a want of exercise
before starting.
I have been up more than twice the elevation since, without feeling
the cold so severely, although Fahrenheit’s thermometer has registered
several degrees below zero.
The sun’s rays in this morning ascent were clear, and though they pass
through space without imparting much heat--unless they are reflected
and radiated--yet it must be remembered that the balloon itself is a
diminutive planet as it were, and intercepts the sun’s influence, if
the atmosphere is free from clouds.
Before the sky had given the customary indication of sunrise to the
city below, it was grand and impressive to contrast the high and rosy
dawn, of which I had a view, with the dark gloom still pervading the
earth towards the east; and even when in blood-red majesty the great
luminary had risen above the ridge of the distant horizon, the land
beneath was as yet comparatively dark, showing thereby the excessive
elevation of the balloon.
I determined very soon after witnessing sunrise to seek a warmer
atmosphere, and descended about 6000 feet rather quickly; here I lost
the sun, but immediately he rose again for the second time, when a
large looking tower, a few miles ahead, came into view; and, as I
had not observed this place previously, I determined to get as near
as possible, and again used the valve pretty freely to accomplish my
object. When within 1200 feet of the ground, I was astonished to find
that my downward course had been almost as rapid as the rising of the
sun. He was again very near the visible horizon. Grand and singular
were the views which I had on that memorable morning.
In this part of my experiences, I purposely abstain from giving details
of the variations of height and temperature, because further on in the
account of my life it will be quite in place to do so.
Even for scientific men, the constant repetition of monotonous tables
is calculated to mar the freshness of continuous narrative. Besides, in
public ascents for festive purposes, it has never been the custom of
aëronauts to dot down more than occasionally the different states of
the atmosphere. Indeed, if they attend mechanically to the requirements
of the balloon, they have not much time for this work, unless they have
assistance.
Without knowing what town it was in advance, I lowered on the leeward
side, and noticed a great many priests and soldiers. As the grapnel
trailed over a field, I heard a scream, like the voice of a child. On
turning to see if the iron had caught anything, I saw a hare, hooked on
to the prongs, but it was knocked off again before the progress of the
balloon was arrested.
The town proved to be Munster and after _déjeuner_, and a description
of the voyage to several of the good people of the place, I felt the
over-powering effects of change of air, with no previous rest for two
nights.
Before dropping off to sleep, I asked the hours of the post leaving.
“If,” thought I, “the first is lost through somnolency, I shall
certainly be ready for the last;” but it so happened that the two
slipped past, and I did not awake until aroused for _abend brod_.
Early next day I wrote to Mr. S----, telling him of my whereabouts,
and inviting him to join me for a few days at Munster. I received no
reply, for the best of all reasons, he had not received the news, but
intelligence of a rather gloomy character had reached Elberfeld, as it
appeared by the _Zeitung_ of that town that I had been killed on my
aërial journey, having fallen out of the car near Dortmund, half way
between Barmen and Munster. On receipt of this intelligence, Mr. S----
and another gentleman named Drebes were despatched immediately to the
spot where the disaster was said to have happened, but no authentic
information could be obtained, beyond the fact that the “Sylph” had
passed overhead, at a great elevation, between seven and eight o’clock
A.M., on the morning referred to.
The party in search then decided to go on to Munster, but we
fortunately met at Hamm railway junction, I having lost no time,
after being killed by the newspapers, in getting back to establish my
vitality.
It may well be supposed, that the interview on my arrival, was of an
exciting order. It was not the first time that I had received the
congratulations of people who had believed me dead, but this reception
I met with was very sincere, and I am not sure that it didn’t put some
new life into one who had been so sensationally deprived of existence
by mere rumour.
Ballooning being over for the season, Mr. S---- returned to England,
and as I was disposed to remain in Germany for the winter, it was not
long before a proposal was made, that I should purchase the balloon and
ascend entirely on my own account.
Having agreed to do so, I stayed at Elberfeld for the winter.
Before I left, the revolutionary movement had broken out afresh in the
Rhine Province, and I had an opportunity of seeing a few shots fired,
and a vast deal of excitement in Elberfeld.
After a great deal of agitation and discontent, a number of Prussian
soldiers were on their march to preserve order. I was taking a stroll
one day with Mr. B----, when it was reported that the military were
approaching. Barricades had been formed already with the pavement
stones from the streets.
There was a general uproar. We were spectators of the riot, and saw the
mob try to fire the Mayor’s house, and eventually do a vast deal of
injury.
On the arrival of a battery of nine-pounders, and a few companies of
infantry, the barricades were manned, and flags of defiance hung out.
The soldiers drew up in the principal square, and towards evening they
moved forth, when we were not far from the barricades.
The street in which the first obstacle was raised, had riflemen at the
windows; a captain was shot, and several soldiers killed or wounded
before the discharge of cannon. The defenders of this barricade were
either frightened or blown away much quicker than we expected, but as
darkness crept on, the military withdrew, expecting a reinforcement in
the morning from Düsseldorf.
During the night, Mr. B---- and I visited the barricades, it was
not an easy matter to approach or enter them, but everybody knew
the _luftschiffer_ or aëronaut, and the English teacher, and no one
supposed that we were spies or combatants.
Among the gaily decorated occupiers of the barricades, were several
of the men who had assisted as labourers at the balloon ascents; some
of these men claimed an intimate acquaintanceship, and although they
merely drank small beer when engaged in our service, yet now that the
tables were turned, they invited us to drink something stronger, and it
was not advisable to offer them a slight by an arrogant refusal.
The hours we spent among the barricades, and in the hotels which were
behind them, proved entertaining and instructive.
At Easter in the year 1849, I made the first spring trip at Barmen, but
before midsummer I started for Berlin, where notices were already out,
to the effect that I would ascend shortly from the far-famed Kroll’s
Gardens.
There were two points about my first exhibition in the Prussian
capital, which caused it to be well remembered. The first was a
public demonstration of the possibility of discharging petards with
safety. The second was a riot in the _Thier Garten_, outside the
Brandenburg Gate, where considerable damage was done to the shrubs,
and a quarrel occurred with the constables, some of whom were severely
beaten. A detachment of soldiers was called in to restore order, but
General Wrangel was prevented from inspecting my apparatus, and that
illustrious soldier was stoned on his way to the gardens, so that the
police authorities prohibited any more ascents, and I was ordered to
remove the cause of disorder, which was the balloon. But instead of
obeying the instructions of the two fierce looking messengers from the
President of Police, I caused them to be referred to Miss Kroll, the
proprietress. I then ascended, as at Brussels, before the stated hour,
offering as a reason, the following morning, that it was easier and
more congenial with my feelings, to let out the gas at some distant
place, than to be compelled to do so on my first essay in Berlin.
On due application on the part of myself and Miss Kroll, the
prohibition against ascending again was withdrawn. I not only did so
on June 11th, but on the 19th instant as well. This time the “Sylph”
passed over Berlin, and was becalmed for more than an hour, affording
an excellent opportunity for the Berliners to witness the bombardment.
There was so little air stirring this evening, that the descent was
made on the military exercising grounds, outside the capital. It struck
me on landing, that instead of letting the gas off, I would move the
balloon outside the walls of Berlin, round to Kroll’s Gardens again,
for a second ascent.
This was a difficult and tedious achievement, but the weather was
favourable for its accomplishment, and it was my ambition to surprise
and please the Garden visitors by exploits which had never been carried
out before.
Miss Kroll’s brother accompanied me in the car, and we directed a
number of soldiers and civilians to march on in the way considered best.
The wonder was that the police did not stop the procession. On arriving
at a part of the outskirts, where some trees and water presented a
barrier to our transit, an idea struck me that an immense amount of
time and labour might be saved, if I dared to strike straight through
Berlin, but Mr. Kroll was of opinion that the soldiers would not permit
us to pass the gates, unless we had authority to do so.
“Let us try,” I urged, “we can beat an honourable and masterly retreat
when we are rejected.”
The bold way in which we moved towards the nearest gate, with the
“Sylph” towering sixty feet from the ground, completely astonished the
sentinel, and the guard as well, which turned out and confronted the
mob now becoming formidable.
Mr. Kroll was asked, when he explained my object, if I had my
permission, to which I replied myself with, “here it is,” bringing
forth the police permission to ascend that day.
I was not bound, as an Englishman and a stranger, to explain that the
_erlaubnitz_ said nothing about _returning_, and as the good-natured
soldiers principally looked to dates, stamps, &c., the gates were
opened to let us through, but very few of our outside followers were
allowed to pass, excepting the blue-coats off duty, who really were a
protection.
The “Sylph” thus passed straight through the city, and was finally
restored to the Gardens without accident before daybreak. The small
gas-works connected with Kroll’s establishment was again set to work
to generate coal gas, and the next day after being duly replenished, I
ascended again.
But there was one great drawback to Kroll’s Gardens, and that was
the long and weary time occupied in inflating. Their little holder
contained only 7000 feet, and what was this towards 32,000 feet, the
contents of the “Sylph.”
I found too, that the confidence inspired by my already numerous
ascents secured me, if I could have taken them, fellow travellers who
were ready and eager to pay a goodly premium for ascending under my
guidance.
It became desirable therefore to tax the full capabilities of the
balloon for passenger accommodation, and as a slow-filling, with heavy
gas, made a difference in the lifting power, sometimes of two persons,
it will be seen that my interests were, in more ways than one, at
stake, and that a more fitting locality for the ascents became in every
way desirable.
The _Schutzenhaus_, situated at the opposite side of Berlin, was
suggested as most suitable for the filling, and thither I accordingly
went after an amount of delay and circumlocution, which was damaging to
my prospects during the finest period of the year.
Here I made a series of trips, always having a full cargo of
passengers. During their progress I was induced by a speculative German
to try a couple of ascents at Stettin, a seaport and consequently
an uninviting place. The chances of success, however, were good, as
there was a well built gas-works there, and no ascent had taken place
previously.
All my requirements were met in first-class style, and the use of
the gas-works yard, a new and commodious place, was granted for the
accommodation of the public.
The first journey, which took place on September 2nd, 1849, was
somewhat inland, but before the commencement of the second on the 6th,
there were grave apprehensions that I should be driven out into the
East Sea, and as the wind was boisterous, good fortune appeared to
draw me back after going out, but I was favoured again before sunset,
as I crossed the Dammsischezee in safety with my two companions and
landed on the opposite side without inconvenience. My visit to Stettin
was thoroughly remunerative and satisfactory. Having another ascent on
September 9th, at Berlin, I returned and made it, my route after that
being a long one, as it extended to Silesia.
Ballooning was little known in Breslau, and if I rushed on to that
town there was no calculating what amount of cash I might pocket.
Making fair allowance for sanguine expectations, and believing that
something might be done, I joined a Prussian merchant who had been a
good deal in England, and we started with a business-like arrangement
which I had no cause to be dissatisfied with, when it came to various
settlements in thalers and bank-notes.
Everything of a public character in Germany required a large amount of
patience, time, and good temper, there are so many preliminaries and
permissions to be thought of and obtained, that one cannot positively
say that he will ascend at such and such a place until the invariable
routine has been gone through, and much tact employed in making
application without creating enemies. In my affairs there were nearly
always difficulties to be surmounted. It was not easy to find a well
sheltered ground where ladies as well as gentlemen could assemble,
nor was it usual to meet with capacious gas pipes in a spot otherwise
adapted for gathering.
We experienced the like drawback in Breslau, and, after repeated
efforts, were compelled to fall back on the gas-works wherein to admit
the inhabitants.
I had obtained sanction for three ascents, and the first took place
on September 20th. The local newspapers emphatically stated on the
following day that all Breslau turned out to see the English aëronaut
mount to the skies.
For the three different classes we had places varying in comfort and
price, but the first place with covered seats, was not considered by
some hundreds of the spectators, half so favourable for seeing as a
pile of coke, whereon both sexes seated themselves, notwithstanding
certain damage to the gay dresses of the ladies. My companions were
Herr Firle, the director of the gas-works, and Herr Gendry, a merchant.
At starting, Reaumur’s thermometer stood at 10°, barometer at 29·62,
time 5h. 15m. The clouds stratus were 900 feet thick, when at 5h. 32m.,
height 3911 feet above the sea level, we broke into a clear space, but
there was a second tier of rain cloud above, where the barometer read
23·4, the cold here was as low as 3¾ of Reaumur. We came down near
_Schönbankwitz_, about eighteen miles from Breslau.
The second exhibition took place on September 22nd. The voyagers were
Dr. Mettner, Herr Piller, and Herr Schulz. The meteorological features
were not so widely different from the first, as to require special
notice.
At the village of _Klein-Mochbern_ I let fall a parachute with two
rabbits in the car, and we descended near _Minkau_.
The success of a third ascent would have been certain, both as regards
public patronage and pecuniary results, but it was prevented from
taking place by the owner of a small potato field adjacent to the
gas-works. The people standing outside had done some damage, and the
man renting it lodged a complaint with the authorities, but instead of
simply asking me, as an Englishman would have done, to purchase the
stock or make some adequate compensation, this selfish and mercenary
fellow defeated himself; having chosen his remedy he was bound to
pursue it. He was not aware that he would be outgeneralled himself. In
full expectation of another ascent, he gave out that damages would be
increased, and that he would then fall upon the Englishman for immense
compensation, which he was sure to obtain.
I had the crop duly surveyed, and no real injury had as yet been
sustained so that I decided without letting anybody know, besides a
certain functionary whose approval was necessary, to get my passport
returned in order to leave Breslau that very night. As the season
was advancing and I wished to take my balloon due north, it was of
importance that I should not be delayed by any vexatious proceedings
such as that mentioned.
On the day following my departure, the potato dealer was apprised of
my having left with balloon, bag and baggage, and that a third ascent
would not take place, he then became as may be surmised, terribly
irate, and immediately set on foot an enquiry whether the tradesmen
employed by me, had been swindled or paid.
There is very little trouble in arriving at conclusions of this sort on
the Continent, and when it was found that a good and highly flattering
report from the police accompanied my departure, the over-reaching
dealer saw that he had been completely done by a stranger, and that the
act was countenanced and facilitated by his own neighbours.
The next town I was anxious to visit during the autumn of 1849, was
Hamburg. There were reasons why I should entertain great expectations
of doing well there.
Firstly, there was abundance of gas to be had, and secondly, there had
been no ascent there for many years.
Under these auspices, I started in company with the Prussian with whom
I had associated myself in Berlin, and we took up our quarters near
the Alster, quite sanguine as to being able to find a public garden or
other locality from which to ascend.
My first application was to President Gossler, the head official and
senator, to whom I presented my credentials, I was graciously promised
every assistance, and was requested to apply again when a convenient
place was found.
We rose early next morning with the express object of exploring
Hamburg. Two or three agents, with a view of assisting in the
enterprise, accompanied us, and it was not long before a well enclosed
plot of ground presented itself; but obstacles arose as fast as
localities sprang into view, the chief of which was a consideration
(pecuniary of course), which was, no doubt, the custom of the country,
but not at all palatable to my taste in the loose way in which it was
required to be made; for instance--it was whispered, that the golden
key was the thing here to unlock all difficulties,--good, so it is in
most places: “But in what form do you propose to apply it?” I enquired
of our agent.
“A few pounds to pave the way as a presentation would be advisable.”
“Indeed,” said I to our Hebrew-looking adviser, “I do not understand
that vague sort of trafficking; if the holder of a piece of property
will set a price on the letting of it, I will say yes or no!”
“They will let you have it for nothing, but you must be polite and
expend a few pounds first with those you wish to help you.”
“That is not my style of doing business, and I do not approve of it.”
“Then you will not be fortunate here.”
“That,” I replied, “we can only know by and bye.”
After days of laborious enquiry, we ascertained that there was a great
deal of truth in what we had heard.
In communicating with the directors of the gas-works, we were advised
to do the best we could in view of existing practices, but somehow we
became irritated at them, and a degree of obstinacy followed which was
hardly, perhaps, in accordance with worldly wisdom.
“At any rate,” as I observed to my joint speculator, “we will strike
out alone, and try to do without these Jewish negociators.”
When we were seen to search about without companions or agents, great
was the laugh at such British stupidity and meanness, but when we
selected a piece of land, and the builders with their carts and boards
were seen to assemble, and it became known that a vast _cirque_ was to
be erected in the most charming locality, then it was admitted that we
were decidedly knowing, and had done the smartest thing attempted in
the free town for some considerable time.
Having then, without the co-operation or approval of the German Jews,
chosen an eligible plot upon which we were permitted to erect a wooden
enclosure of about 150 feet in diameter; notices were posted that an
ascent would take place on the following Wednesday.
The local press cheered the venture with the most encouraging
paragraphs, and took a retrospective glance at my previous ascents in
Germany. This act of kindness was sufficient to ensure a successful
campaign, the more so as my first ascent in October went off with great
_éclat_, and I took with me two passengers, Mr. Ballheimer, and Herr
Rieck.
These gentlemen, who journeyed with me into Holstein, came back with
such a stirring account of cloudland, that I was safe as to passengers
for the next three voyages. I made altogether four before the close of
the season, the last on November 9th, was a remarkable trip, it will be
interesting therefore to append the more striking particulars.
The final ascent was preceded by a number of captive trips to the
extent of a rope two hundred feet long.
Many of the first-class people of Hamburg including the president and
some of the senators, went up thus far, but the most popular candidate
was a heroine weighing at least nineteen stone, and attired in a humble
cotton dress, with a huge time-worn umbrella tucked under her left arm.
I had just decided upon concluding these captive ascent when the goodly
dame burst out into an audible lamentation that she had travelled, I
don’t know how many miles, on purpose to see the English balloon, and
now her chance of going up in it was lost.