The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-27 00:00:00

A BALLOON VOYAGE.

Mr. John Wise, aeronaut, gives the following
account of a balloon trip from St. Louis to Hender-
son, Jefferson County, New York :
" Although it was intended to have started on
this voyage on the 23d of June, we were delayed in
our preparations until the Ist of July. By 6 o'clock
p.m. the air ship Atlantic was duly inflated, and
while we were putting her in trim with ballast and
provisions, Mr. Brooks, lessee of the St. Louis
Museum, who had kindly volunteered to escort us
over the Mississippi in his balloon Comet, got ready
for the occasion, and upon a signal agreed ascended
from the ground. At 7.20 p.m. the Atlantic was
ready to sail. Messrs. La Mountain and Gager,
thinking some difficulty might arise at the start if
they should attach the fan-wheels to the shafts and
wheel-gearing, determined to omit that until we
should be fairly under way next morning. Having
had much experience in hard winds, and the perils
of landing aballoon under them, we had constructed
at St. Louis a good wicker-work car (which, with a
good and strong concentric hoop, is a life-preserver
in these perils), which was suspended between the'
boat and balloon, and about eight feet above the
former and within six feet of the hoop, so that the
neck of the balloon hung in the basket car when-
ever the balloon was fully distended. The boat
contained 600 pounds of ballast, one bucket of
water, one bucket of lemonade, with an abundance
of bread and wine, poultry and sandwiches, besides
delicacies too numerous to enumerate furnished by
kind friends, Mr. La Mountain took command of
the boat and ballast, and took his place on one end ;
Mr. Gager took the other end, and took charge
of the charts and compass ; Mr. Hyde, local
editor of the St. Louis Republican, took his seat
in the middle, with note-book and pencil, as
historian. Although Mr. Hyde was not in the
original programme, we unanimously agreed to
let him accompany us, provided it would
not interfere with our ultimate design ; and it was
arranged that, under any circumstances, when the
balloon should fall, the boat with its occupants
should be disposed of, and myself or Mr. La Moun-
tain should proceed with the voyage alone. The
basket contained 3501 b. of ballast, a barometer, wet
and dry bulb thermometer, besides a quantity of
wines and provisions ; and I took my place in the
basket and charge of the valve rope, and as director
of the general plan of the voyage, by the unani-
mous consent of the party engaged in this long de-
vised enterprise. I must say here that Mr. La
Mountain took in charge a part of the programme
that none but a cool head and a most accomplished
aeronaut could be trusted with, and especially the
night sailing. At 7.20 p.m. we set sail from the
Washington-square of St. Louis, with 75,000 feet
of gas, and our course at starting was north of east.
When we got up, and over the Mississippi, and well
under way, we saw Mr. Brooks land in a clear
place about sunset. At 8.30 p.m. the shades of the
evening shut from our view the noble city of St.
Louis and the father of waters, though it continued
light until after 9. Mr. La Mountain having suf-
fered from sickness on Thursday, and being too un-
well to work hard under a burning sun at the infla-
tion, left much hard labour for me at that work. I
submitted the whole thing to his charge for the
night, with the understanding to have me waked
whenever he wanted the valve worked, and he took
it with alacrity. Before I went to sleep we had
mounted to a height at which the balloon had be-
come completely distended, and where we found
the current due east. Here it became chilly, and
Mr La Mountain, as well as all of us, suffered from
the change of air, and with all the clothing we
could put on us it was still uncomfortable,
though the thermometer stood at 42 and the
barometer at 23, and this was the lowest of
both the instruments during the whole voyage,
except the crossing of Lake Ontario. Mr. La
Mountain proposed to take the lower current as long
as it would take us but a few points north of east,
and I told him to do as he deemed best, and report
his reckoning in the morning. After bidding the
party in the boat a good night and God speed, I
coiled myself up in blankets and lay down as best
I could, and in a few moments was sound asleep
and knew nothing but repose until 11 30 p.m. At
this time Mr. La Mountain again mounted for the
upper current ; being desirious of making a little
more easting, he hailed me to open the valve, as the
balloon had become tense and the gas was rushing
from the neck with a noise, but finding no answer
from me, he suspected I was being smothered in the
gas, and he admonished Mr. Gager to mount to my
car by a rope provided for that purpose, and Mr.
Gager found me breathing spasmodically ; but a
good shaking and the removal of the neck of the
balloon from my face, with plenty of pure cold air
around me, soon brought me back to a knowledge
The night. At midnight I felt quite
of what was going on, and I resolved to sleep no
more during
well, with an invigorated spirit of observation and

interest in our experiment. The whole dome of
heaven was lit up with a mellow phosphorescent
light, the stars shone with a crystalline brilliancy,
and the milky way looked like an illuminated
stratum of cumulus clouds. Whenever we crossed
water the heaven-lit dome was as visible below, by
reflection as above. So remarkable was this phos-
phorescent light of the atmosphere that the balloon
looked translucent, and looked like light shining
through oiled paper. We could also tell prairie
the eye for a moment
downward
forest,v the roads, fences, fields,
roo,ard w ande could
yldkeespeeing
and even houses quite distinctly at any elevation
not over a mile, and even at the greatest elevation
we could discern prairie from woodland and from
water. 'Whenever we halloed it was followed by a
distinct echo, even this served as a differential index
to height. We always found a response in numerous
bow-wow-wows, and these, too, were always indi-
cative of the fulness and sparseness of the habita-
tions below, as we could hear them for many miles
around us. Mr. La Mountain remarked that no-
body lived in that country but dogs , or else the
people barked like dogs, he having got a little out
of humour because nobody would tell him in what
State we were sailing, and he gave up the inquiry,
with the remark that it must be over some other
country than America, as we had been moving
along at a rapid pace. At three a.m., Saturday,
we came to a general conclusion that we were
somewhere over the State of Indiana or Ohio. At
four a.m. we passed a city, but could not make it
out, but at five a.m. we discovered Lake Erie
ahead of us, and then concluded that the city we
left a little south of our track must have been Fort
Wayne. At six a.m. we passed Toledo, and about
an hour afterwards we lowered on the margin of
the lake a little north of Sandusky. After a few
moments' consultation and a review of our ballast,
we determined to risk the length of Lake Erie, and
to test the notion that balloons cannot be kept up
long over water, because of some peculiar affinity
of the two—a notion that never had any belief
with me. Just as we merged upon the lake, a little
steam screw that was propelling up a river or bay
headed for our track, and some one aboard of her
very quaintly cried aloud to us, That is the lake
ahead of you.' Mr. La Mountain cried back, ' Is
it Lake Erie ?' and the answer was' Yes, it is, and
you had better look out.' Our good friend, the
propeller, finding that we disregarded his kindness,
rounded off a...am, sounded us a good-bye with his
steam whistle, and went his way up the river.
Here we mounted up until the balloon got full, and
the barometer fell to 23, in order to make along
near the southern shore of the lake, but at Mr. La
Mountain's suggestion that we could make the city
of Buffalo by sailing but a few hundred feet above
the surface of the water, I opened the valve until we
gradually sank to within 500 feet of the water. Here
we found a gentle gale of about a speed of a mile per
minute, and we resolved to float on it until we should
heave in sight of Buffalo, and then rise and sail over
it. This was a most interesting part of our voyage.
We overtook seven steamboats, passed mutual salu-
tations, and would soon leave them flitting on the
horizon in our rear. One of these lonely travellers
remarked as we passed him, You are going it like
thunder.' At 10.20 a.m. we were skirting along
the Canada shore, and passed near the mouth of the
Welland Canal, and soon began to mount for our
most easterly current, so as to take Buffalo in our
track, but we circled up into it between Buffalo and
Niagara Falls, crossing Grand Island, leaving Buf-
falo to the right and Lockport to the left of us in
our onward course. Finding ourselves in the State
of New York, but too far north to make the city of
New York, it was agreed that we should make a
landing near Rochest r, detach the boat, leave out
Mr. Gager and Mr. Hyde, and Mr. La Mountain
and myself pursue the voyage to a point at Boston
or Portland. Accordingly we descended gradually,
but before we got within a thousand feet of the
earth we found a most terrific gale sweeping along
below. The woods roared like a host of Niacraras,
the surface of the earth was filled with clouds of
dust, and I told my friends certain destruction
awaited us if we should touch the earth in that tor-
nado. The huge Atlantic was making a terrific
sweep earthward ; already were we near the tops of
the trees of a tall forest, and I cried out somewhat
excitedly For God's sake heave overboard any-
thing you can lay your hands on, La Mountain,'
and in another moment he responded All right,'
standing on the side of the boat with a shaft and
wheels, intended for the working of the fan wheels,
and ready to heave it over, should it become neces-

sary. Mr. Hyde looked up to my car, and very •
solemnly said, This is an exciting time, Professor.
What shall we do ?" Trust to Providence and our
energies,' said I. Wo were fast running on to Lake
Ontario; and oh! how terribly it was foaming, moan-
ing, and howling. I said, La Mountain, I have
150 pounds of ballast in my car yet, and a heavy
valise, an express bag (sent to the United States'
Express Company's-office in Broadway, New York),
and a lot of provisions.' Well, if that won't do, I
will cut up the boat for ballast, and we can keep
above water until we reach the opposite shore,'
which was near a hundred miles off in the direction
we were then going. Here I handed my ballast
down to La Mountain, as we were rapidly mount-
ing above the terrific gale, believing that by that
course we should at least get out of its main track.
Everything now indicated that we should perish
in the water or on the land, and our only salvation
was to keep afloat until we got out of the gale, if
we could. I said, You must all get into the
basket, if you want to be saved, should we ever
reach the land. And I truly tell you that the perils
of the land are even more terrible than those of the
water, with our machines ; and it would be easier
to meet death by drowning than to have our bodies
mangled by dashing against rocks and trees.' By
this time Mr. Gager and Mr. Hyde had clambered
into the basket with me. Mr. Hyde said, very
coolly, lam prepared to die, but I would rather
die on the land than in the water.' I said, What
do you say, Mr. Gager ?' He replied, I would
rather meet it on land ; but do as you think best.'
Mr. La Mountain was busily engaged in collecting
what he could for ballast. Everything was now
valuable to us that had weight. Our carpet-
bags, our instruments, the express bag, our provi-
sions were all ready to go, and go they did, one after
another, until we were reduced to the express bag ;
that went overboard last. We now descried the
shore, some 40 miles ahead, peering between a
sombre bank of clouds and the water horizon, but
we were swooping at a fearful rate upon the turbu-
lent water, and in another moment crash went the
boat upon the water sidewise, staving in two of
the planks, and giving our whole craft two fear-
ful jerks by two succeeding waves. La Mountain
stuck to the boat like a hero, but lost his hat and
got a dash of the waves, but soon recovered, and
threw over the express bag and the last remaining
ballast, and cried out, Be easy, gentlemen, I'll
have her afloat once more.' In another moment we
were up a few hundred feet again, and the steamer-
propeller Young America was tacking across our
track. I now proposed to swamp the boat and
balloon in the lake, and trust to being picked up by
the Young America, but the desire was that we
should make the shore and try the land, and as we
crossed the bow of the steamer they gave us a
hearty hurrah. La Mountain had now cut out of
the boat all he could, and we were within 15 miles
of the shore, the gale still raging below. La Moun-
tain might have remained in the boat below, and
jumped out at the first touching the earth, and I
saw no impropriety in that, as then we might have
had another hour or two to wait the lulling of the
gale ; but he said he would share our fate, and he
also clambered into the basket just as we were
reaching the land. I saw by the swaying to and
fro of the lofty trees into which we must inevitably
dash that our worst perils were at hand, but I still
had a blind hope that we should be saved. I
ordered two men upon the valve rope, and we struck
within 100 yards of the water, among some scat-
tered trees, our hook, which was of inch and quar-
ter iron, breaking like a pipestem at the first catch
of it in a tree, and we hurling through the tree
tops at a fearful rate. After dashing along in this
way for nearly a mile, crashing and breaking down
trees, we were dashed most fearfully into the
boughs of a tall ehn, so that the basket swung un-
der and up through the cotch of the limb, while the
boat had caught in some of the other branches, and
this brought us to a little ; but in another moment
the Atlantic puffed up her huge proportions, and
at one swoop away went the limb, basket, and boat
into the air 100 feet, and I was afraid some of the
crew were impaled upon the scrags. This limb,
about eight inches thick at the butt, and full of
branches, not weighing less than 6001 b. or 800 lb.,
proved too much for the Atlantic, and it brought
her suddenly down upon the top of a very tall
tree and collapsed her. It was a fearful plunge,
but it left us dangling between heaven and earth
in the most sorrowful-looking plight of machinery
that can be imagined, None of us were seriously
injured, the many cords, the strong hoop made of
wood and iron, and the close wickerwork basket
saving us from harm, as long as the machinery hung
together, and that could not have lasted two minutes
longer. We came to the land, or rather tree, of Mr.
T. o.Whitney, town of Henderson, Jefferson county,
New Yor K. We will soon have the Atlantic re-
built, for what I hope may prove a more success-
ful demonstration of what we proposed to do on
this interesting occasion.
" Stanwix Hall, Albany, New York, July 3."
The Albany Argus says,—" The entire distance
travelled was 1,150 miles in 19 hours and 50 mi-
nutes. The greatest altitude attained was two miles.
Mr. Wise has entire confidence in the success of the
undertaking, and expresses a determination tomake
another experimental voyage as soon as the balloon
can be repaired. He has no doubt but that a voy-
age can be made by her to Europe in one-fourth the
time that it is now made by the steamers."
The St. Louis Republican says, of the starting—
" A peep into the boat or car revealed a strange
medley. The most noticeable was an express bag,
labelled as follows T. B. Marsh, agent United
States Express Company, No. 82, Broadway, New
York. This bag is sent from St. Louis, by the aerial
ship Atlantic, July 1. Please forward to destina-
tion from landing of balloon by express, as above
directed.—C. W. Ford, Agent, St. Louis.' Besides
this business-like package, there were 30 dols. worth
of provisions furnished by Guenaudon, sundry bot-
tles—suppos9d to contain champagne and other
refreshing beverages—blankets, overcoats, gloves,
anchors, flags, and cards of mercantile houses and
candidates for office at the coming election. There
were also packages, letters, and newspapers, a tele-
scope, thermometer, barometer, and all the neces-
sary scientific paraphernalia of ballooning."