The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-01 00:00:00

sun°,

ANOTHER BALLOON ASCENT IN

MANCHESTER

On Monday evening last, Mr. Gale made a second and
more successful ascent in his balloon, the " Prince of
Wales." from the Pomona Gardens. The balloon was
moored by the side of the small lake in these very pic-
turesque gardens, and in a small gravelled area, whieli
allowed the spectators to form a large ring around it.
The balloon, from its great height when inflated,
was a very conspicuous object from the outside of
the gardens, and attracted the attention of great
crowds on the Chester and tha Stretford roads,
and all the elevated spots and banks in the neighbour-
hood; nay, so desirous were some parties to have a good
view of it, that they ascended to the top of a now and
very high chimney in the neighbourhood. The inflation
of the balloon having been commenced on Saturday, it
was quite fully inflated by Monday afternoon, but from
the quality of the gas which had been supplied, Mr.
Gale was nevertheless very doubtful whether it would
have sufficient buoyancy to enable him to ascend
with his double car, or take up the supplemental
balloons, the use of which we shall presently describe.
Mr. Gale calculates that, with gas of the specific gravity
of '350 his balloon would have sufficient buoyancy to
take up himself, three other persons, his supplementary
car and balloons, and 2:12- cwt. of ballast ; the gas
with which he made his ascents in London had a
specific gravity of about .400, whilst that which he ob-
tained from the Manchester gas works, though of a
superior quality for the burning purposes to which it is
ordinarily applied, had a specific gravity of 475, .and
was, therefore, much less suited for balloon purposes.
All the necessary preparations having been made, the
double car was appended to the balloon, about seven
o'clock. This consists of two large baskets, placed
the one on the top of the other, fitting into it and,
having a large hole in the bottom ; the upper and
lower compartments are during the ascent fastened
tightly to myth other ; bu the connecting ropes can be
kohe
'so reiTXPa 11.4 i/ .I,:a se 9W U. wer divisieat to leaug :a; 30.: •S
air 31) or 40 feet below • upper. The loweriag of
the lower division of the car stretches out a rope ladder,
and the aeronaunt then descends (as represented in the
illustrated placards announcing Mr. Gale's ascent)
through the hole in•the bottom of the upper car. The
car having been affixed, Mr. Gale and a young man, his
assistant, entered it, taking with them licwt. of ballast;
and having a frame hung to the bottom of the car on
which were placed the fireworks necessary for firing the
royal salute. Mr. Gale then allowed the balloon to ascend
a short distance and then descend, it being held by a rope,
for the purpose of testing its buoyancy, the proprietor
of the gardens being, of course, very urgent that the
supplementary balloons should, if possible, be attached,
in order to keep faith with the public. This experiment
showing that Mr. Gale had somewhat under-estimated
the buoyancy of the balloon, the supplemental balloons
were then attached. These are two small balloons,
suspended in a collapsed state from the upper part
of each side of the balloon, and having a canvas
pipe leading to them from the neck of the main
balloon. There use is as follows :—When a balloon fully
inflated ascends, as the atmosphere becomes more
rarefied, the expansion of gas in the balloon renders
it necessary to allow a considerable quantity to
escape, in order to prevent the balloon from bursting;
this escape (which takes place to such an extent, that
Mr. Gale calculates that a balloon in ascending 2,000
feet, loses. one-tenth part of the gas which it originally
contained), being directed into the supplemental bal-
loons, by choking the neck of the large balloon, inflates
them, causing them of course to stand up from the upper
part of the balloon like two wings, as represented on
the placards, and enabling the aeronaut to ascend very
much higher than he would otherwise be able to
do. These balloons, however, though thus ultimately
aiding the ascent of the parent balloon, do necessarily
at first check it to some extent. The supplemental
balloons having been attached, and all the number-
less little arrangements of ropes, &c., having been
completed, Mr. Gale, about half past seven o'clock, libe-
rated the balloon, which immediately rose rapidly and
majestically, amid the cheers of the spectators, and the
playing of two bands of music. The balloon passed over
the Chester-road, and bore, for a short distance, to the
south-eastward, as though it were going in the direction
of Stockport,—the direction which it took on the former
occasion. As, however, it rose, the upper current of
air carried it in a southward, and subsequently in a
westward direction. When the balloon had ascended to
the height of about 4,000 feet, Mr. Gale lowered the
lower car, and shortly after descended the rope ladder
with considerable rapidity ; of course, at the distance at
which the balloon then was, Mr. Gale appeared to the
spectators in the gardens merely as a speck. After
he had reached the lower car, he discharged the
fireworks attached thereto. These had a rather
curious effect, as the explosive substance fell 200
or 300 feet from the balloon before they exploded.
Mr Gale having discharged the fireworks, ascended to
the upper car and the balloon then ascended rapidly,
.;i2-r:.;; --t--s-, ti,.:-.zt....1,€.7-. --...t,3.-A ,4•,-..,,,,,,t. el'. -.Ka e-,-,-,-.45-.
by the discharge of the fireworks. The greatest height
attained was about a mile and a half. This was
without the aid of the supplementary balloons, as
Mr. Gale, having no object in ascending higher,
did not inflate these, but permitted the gas to escape
in thu usual way. Mr. Gale, after a journey of
rather more than half an hour, descended at eight
minutes past eight o'clock, at Mr. Timperley's farm, at
Sinderland, in the parish of Bowdon. The descent.
which was of the gentlest description, was into a pasture
field; there was a great crowd of the country people
assembled, and Mr. Gale having thrown his grappling
iron to them, was pulled in by them. They behaved to
him with the greatest kindness, and he was brought to
the gardens (where he arrived about half past eleven
o'clock) by Mr. Wright, of the Bay Malton inn.
Mr. Gale's ascent was witnessed in the gardens by a
very numerous and respectable company, who after-
wards promenaded about these really very pretty
grounds, the animation of the scene being still further in-
creased by a great number of boats on the river. The up-
per part of the gardens was very tastefully illuminated,
arid about half-past ten o'clock a display of fireworks
took place ; the rockets were most excellent, but the set
pieces were only indifferent, chiefly from having been
badly set. The Temple of Henan, which is a large
transparency a
y extending nearly across
was also illuminated,across the gardens, and
representiwith a very pleasing effect. Two bands of music
and a party of Lancashire bell-ringers enlivened the
scene by their performances. The outside passengers
on the omnibus which left Manchester for Altrincham
and Bowdon at seven o'clock, had an excellent view of
the balloon all the way from Stretford to Altrincham ;
they saw its rise and descent, which one gentleman said
would be in Sinderland, and they also saw, the flash of
flame, on the ignition of each rocket discharged by the
aeronaut (who was distinctly seen to descend from
and re-ascend into the upper car), followed by
a report, and then by a small balloon-shaped
dark object, which at first was conjectured
to be a small balloon, but it soon resolved itself into a
wreath of thin smoke. Six or seven of the dis-
charges were seen and heard. As the omnibus en-
tered Altrincham, the balloon being obviously descend-
ing, many persons were hastening thence along the
Manchester road to be in at " the fall. The clear sky
balloong an exceedingly
h higher up there were
oo
uwnedo
r atmosphere
rendered (tthheo u
beautiful spectacle for miles round the site of its ascent.
—Manchester Guardian.
od
fa
dark the
c ll

MADAGASCAR.—There appears to be little chance
of any opening of the trade of Madagascar by the Queen
of that island. The rumour circulated in town through
the journals a few days ago, that the authorities at
Traamde a
wouldtave had e announced
nextt }ear,
was probable that thear, is incorrect. Captain
that
Labury, of the Charles Heddle, touched there on his
way to West Coast for a cargo of oxen. _ He was refused
t
any oxen there, and he learned that the Europeans at
that place were badly treated and under the strictest
surveillance. A Malgache, one of the Administration
having openly shown a desire to renew connexion with
the Europeans, had been condemned by the Queen to be
burnt alive, but he avoided this cruel death by swallow-
ing poison. Malgache women who had in their posses
sion merchandize formerly belonging to the traders who
had been expelled, and who were accused of having kept
up a correspondence with them, were publicly sold to
slavery.—Mauricien.
CURIOSITIES or TUE PULPIT.—In
lately, Dr. Elliott, editor of the "Christian Advocate,"
a Cincinnati newspaper, preached to a congregation of
two persons. This he afterwards related was twice as
many as he once preached to in 1822. On that occasion
a Mohawk woman travelled fourteen miles on foot to,
hear him preach, but she did not understand English
and Dr. Elliott could not preach in the Mohawk tongue.
He had an interpreter, however, who knew Wyandott
and English ' • and another was found who could speak
Wyandott and Mohawk. So Dr. Elliott preached in
English ; the first interpreter translated the discourse
into Wyandott ; and the second translated it into Mo-
hawk. A pretty sermon, no doubt, they made of it,
before it got to the Mohawk woman.
Some time ago, Mr. Lawson, proprietor of the
Hotel Bedford, Rue St. Honors, 323, but who has now
a splendid hotel in the Rue de I'Arcade, obtained a
verdict, with B,ooof. damages, against M. Bavoux
his landlord, for having caused several adver-
tisements to be inserted in Galignani's Messenger,
stating that the Hotel Bedford was to be let, though,
in point of fact, Mr. Lawson's lease did not expire
until some months afterwards. The damages were
awarded because the court held that the Hotel Bedford
was the property of Mr. Lawson, though the house in
which the business of the establishment was carried on
belonged to M. Bavoux.
Au appeal having been made
„,
against the decision by Bavoux, the case came on for
argument on Saturday before the Cour Royale. M.
Bavoux's advocate set forth that Mr. Lawson would not
renew his lease of the house No. 323, Rue St. Honore, be-
cause M. Bavoux demanded 40,000 f. a year, instead of
25,000 f. that had been previously paid; but he denied that
in causing the advertisements to be inserted, M. Bavoux
had intended to do any injury to that gentleman. The
advocate of Mr. Lawson, on the contrary, contended
that the advertisement had done him injury by causing
people not to go to the hotel, under the belief that be
had retired from business, and produced letters in proof
of his statement, The court took this view of the
matter, and confirmed the judgment in favour of Mr.
Lawson.—Galignani.