The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-11 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

THE BALLOON CONTEST-THE VOYAGE
OF THE "OWL."
The Balloon Society of Great Britain has been
formed by joint members of the London Central
Arctic Committee and of the Aeronautical Society,
with a spirited intention of conducting experiments
for future ballooning in the Arctic regions, in aid of
the proposed British-Canadian expedition for attempt-
big- to reach the North Pole, and also to render ex-
cursions in the air more frequent and popular by bring-
ing about a system of joint. action between the several
aeronauts, for the purpose of prosecuting meteorc-
logical and general scientific investigations in the at-
mosphere, as well as affording the means for in-
vigorating and pleasurable ascents to many who could ,
not otherwise avail themselves of the rare and irregu-
lar opportunities hitherto iu vogue. The inaugura-
tion of this society may be said to have taken
place on Saturday, for whicb day arrangements had
been made for a systematic ascent of eight balloons,
which were to leave the earth at five o'clock in the
afternoon from eight different points round London.
A quarter of an hour's grace was given, or a quarter-
past five, was named as the last moment at which
any balloon might start, if to be considered within
the rules of the contest. The prize was a silver
medal, to be given by the society to the aeronaut who
might be determined to have traversed the longest
distance within exactly one hour and a half from the
time of starting, each aeronaut choosing his own
elevation, in order, in his judgment, to obtain the
greatest velocity of wind.
The starting-points selected were the Crystal Palace,
Alexandra Palace, Woolwich or Aldershot, North
Woolwich, Clapham, Lillie-bridge, Hendon, and Worm-
wood Scrubbs. The War Office gave permission for
a Government balloon to join the contest. Artillery-
men were stationed to sight the balloons every quarter
of an hour.

The War Office balloon, which was to have been
sent up from Woolwich, was, unfortunately, detained
at Dungeness. Owing to
.the failure in the gas supply,
no ascent was found possible from the Welsh Harp at
Hendon or from Lillie Bridge.

The first balloon to ascend was that in charge of
Mr. Orton, from the "Forest". Hotel, Chingford.
He left the earth at three minutes to five o'clock,
carrying one passenger, and after a pleasant voyage
reached terra firma at Ashton, three miles from Mat-
lock Station, on the Great Eastern Railway. The
balloon was in the air one hour and twenty-live
minutes, the maximum altitude attained being about
3,000 feet.
Mr. Simmons left the u;alsham Rink ic.lth a balloon
containing 26,000 ft. of gas, and lifting 9901 b. He had
a particularly interesting trip, passing over the
Thames at Westminster, where he heard Big Ben
strike five, and being at a sufficiently low altitude
when crossing Moorgate-street to speak to persons
below. From this point he was carried by the same
current, which appears to have been equally potent
with his competitors, northward, along the course of
the river Lea. Mr. Simmons descended at Widding-
ton, Essex, a distance somewhat under fifty miles.
He claims to have attained a maximum altitude of
14,300 ft., at which he found the temperature to be as
low as 39 deg.

Mr. Wright's Owl, which requires over 30,000 cubic
'feet for the purpose of inflation, went up from the
Crystal Palace at a quarter-past five. There were four
occupants of the car. This balloon passed over the
Thames and the East-end of London, and proceeded,
by way of Barking, Ilford, Chipping Ongar, and
Dunmow, to Little Bardfield, two miles from Halstead,
Enex, where it came down.

Mr. Jackson, a veteran, ascended, with one passen-
ger, in a balloon 30,000 cubic feet, from North Wool-
wich Gardens, at seven minutes past five, descending
in safety at 6.48 p.m. at Three Chimnies Farm, Bldg-
well, Halstead, Essex, a distance of more than fifty
miles from the starting point, the maximum alti-
tude attained having been 6,250 ft.
Mr. Barker went up from the Alexandra Palace, and
landed at Berdon, in Essex, a distance of about thirty-
four miles.

The Daily .News of Monday gives an account of the voyage
of the " Owl " (furnished by a correspondent), from which
we make the following extracts :

. . . I gladly accepted the kind permission of Mr.
Le Fevre, President of the Balloon Society, and Mr.
Wright, master of the "Owl," to ascend in the latter
with Commander Cheyne, from the Crystal Palace,
to take our part in the balloon race of Saturday last. .
At five o'clock the Owl was fully inflated and ready
to start. A few hundred visitors watched the pre-
parations with interest, and were no doubt amused at
the difficulties experienced by the aeronauts in packing
themselves into a small car swaying to and fro, and
ever and anon swinging bags of sand still suspended
in the-net-work against the heads of the occupants.
Mr. Le Fevre, president of the Balloon Society,
watched the start, with Captain Savage of the
Meteorological Department, and other visitors. At
5.15 the balloon left the earth, carrying with it Mr.
Wright (the aeronaut), Commander Cheyne, Mr. L.
C. A lvord (of Deaver, Colorado), and the writer. The
small car, about five feet by two and a half, carried
several bags of ballast, leaving but little room for
Commander Cheyne to unpack and bring into use the
instruments required for scientific observations. In
one minute and a quarter we were a thousand feet
high, and were being wafted by a fair south-west wind
away from the Crystal Palace in a north-
easterly direction. . . . Curiously enough, even
at this height the spectators whom we had
left but a minute ago were no longer visible.
From the busy scramble and tun:110 of the
start, from the excitement, not to say agitation of
those immediately concerned, and from the eager
gaze and hum of voices of .five hundred people, we had
passed at once into stillness. Within three minutes we
were two thousand feet high, and had before, behind,
and around us the wonderful panorama of the metro-
polis. Thus seen from above the ranges of buildings
within our ken stood sharply defined in streets,
squares, and blocks, intersected by roads and inter-
spersed with gardens and foliage. In less time than is
occupied in writing these words we were within, as it
seemed, a stone's throw of the Thaihes, and were in
fact rapidly approaching Greenwich. Far away on
the left the towers of the Houses of Parliament
were dimly visible through the smoke and haze that
overhung the capital. Nearer and more conspicuous,
though similarly shrouded, was the great dome of St.
Paul's, towering over the dense and barely distinguish-
able mass of buildings that constitute the city and
spread far away to the north and west. The one most
distinguishable landmark, to use an Hibernianism,
was the river Thames, winding its way from the dark
green hills of Richmond through the light boating
stages, down to the passenger steamers, and from that
broadening out to receive the commerce of the
world in ships of all nations. You could see
perfectly the long lines of vessels in the
river, the familiar blocks of barges, and the
huge ocean-going steamers. Beyond these on either
side you could, at a glance, follow finely-cut lines of
docks for miles and miles. In one brief glance of the
eye was encompassed dock basins, warehouses and
wharves that would have required days and weeks to
traverse on foot, and would then have left but a vague
and confused impression on the mind of the pedestrian.
He would, however, have realised what we could not.
To him all would have appeared to be bustle and
activity. To us all was dumb show. Docks were
cut in blocks, ships were dummies. Of all the busy
teeming human life swarming two thousand feet
beneath, not a visible sign reached us. You
could hear at intervals the shrill whistle of a
train or the faint and distant rumbling arising
from some great foundry or factory, but beyond
that all was still and inanimate. Greenwich Hospital
stood out like a model. The parks around were oases
in the wide-spreading range of roofs and chimneys,
and of streets. At twenty-three minutes past five we
had reached an altitude of 2,350 feet, and were sailing
over the Thames towards the Isle of Dogs. Four
miles at least of terrestrial measurement had been
covered in eight minutes. No indication whatever
of motion was given by the balloon. The huge pano-
ramic vie,w unfolded itself below as though some unseen
Archimedam power had found the requisite leverage,
and was at least moving London and its surroundings
slowly from north-eastto south-west. The great Thames,
with its burden of shipping and its immensity of dock
basins, passed slowly under and moved away behind.
For long afterwards, however, the silver streak
of the Father of English rivers served as a guide for
distance, direction, and speed. Seen at this altitude
of 2,500 feet, the landscape was circular and concave,
and embraced an area of not less than thirty miles in
diameter. No physical inconvenience was experienced
from atmospheric causes beyond a slight extra pressure
on the ears. The aerial machine sailed softly and
silently over the almost equally silent scene below.
Occasionally the sound of a gunshot would reach us,
or the whistle of a railway engine; but no trains were
distinguishable nor any movement perceptible on all
the earth beneath. The towers and glistening roof
of the Crystal Palace were still in view as we passed
over Poplar at thirty-four minutes past five.
Among all the streets and houses in that populous
district, Mr. Wright, the aeronaut, with something
of the homing instinct that belongs to rival travellers
in the air in the form of carrier pigeons, was able to
distinguish his own white dwelling, and, as he said,
could see his workpeople, and his wife waving her
handkerchief. If so, the sight of the aeronaut must
still more closely equal that of the keenest bird that
flies. As Poplar passed under we began to sight the
green fields and fair domains of the county of Essex.
Flat and tame when traversed by road or rail, this
tract of country improves when seen from
above. Optical illusion gives a graceful modu-
lation that the land does not in reality possess.
We were now at Ilford, and were, as fate
would have it, just over the cemetery, where,
as our guardian informed us for our comfort, he had
recently attended to the grave all that was mortal of
two former fellow-Voyagers. Our director, however,
on a grim joke by Captain Cheyne plumply asking
whether he sent his friends to the tomb, was able to
assure us that they came to a not untimely end in the
ordinary course of nature. Taking bearings from
Barking Creek, we were going N.N.E., and were
leaving Ilford, its cemetery, and our predecessors who
had joined the majority, far behind. Forest and field
now succeeded to town and village. Tl'he' town of
Romford was on our right, Hainault Forest im-
mediately beneath us. At ten minutes to six we
were 2,980 feet above the earth, and were
sailing over one vast wide expanse of well-defined
corn fields, rich with golden grain and bounded by
fresh green hedgerows. Dotted all over he country
were neat homesteads snugly ensconced in the midst
of smiling plenty, Darker patches of woodland and
copse and covert studded all the plains. Thermo-
metrical readings gave a temperature of 68 degrees at
an altitude of 2,651 feet. Still far away behind,
streaming down fram the south-eastern heights of the
horizon was the glittering thread of the Thames, soon
to disappear entirely from view- Away over (fresh
woods and pastures new we floated in the clear
bright air. In the exireme distanGe a slight haze
bounded tha view, but above, below, and around, all
was fair and fine. Notes from a bugle arose from one
of the homesteads or hamlets beneath, faintly yet
sweetly. A considerable village on the left was .
surmised to be Chipping Ongar, because Chip-
ping Ongar is a village at a railway terminus. and this
was a village, and at a railway terminus. All traces
of London and the Thames had faded away. Chip-
ping Ongar was left in the rear, and we floated along
over great breadths Qf grain-bearing land with plot' of