The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-17 00:00:00

TIIE LATE LIEUT. GEO. 13. GALE,
TIIE AERONAUT.
(BRIEF MEMOIR.)
It was in the year 1809 that Lieut. Gale first wit-
nessed a balloon ascent. At the time he had ❑ot the
remotest idea that he should ever make a balloon as-
cent, far less that he should eventually follow bdloon-
ing as a profession.
lie afterwards witnessed several ascents made by
Mr. Sadler, and was also a spectator of the first ascent
of Mr. Charles Green, the veteran aeronaut, on the
19th July, 1821.

A long lapse of years ensued, and the perils and
excitements of a nautical and otherwise chequered
career dismissed for a time all thoughts of balloons
and ballooning from his mind.
In 1824 he was residing in the city of New York,
and there was brought into communication with M.
Arnaud Robert, a talented French aeronaut, and a
lineal descendant of the M. Robert who, with M.
Charles, made the first ascent with a balloon inflated
with hydrogen gas at Paris, Dec. 1, 1783.
With M. Arnaud Robert Lieut. Gale formed a
somewhat close acquaintance, and eventually made
several ascents with him.

Of his first ascent, which was made at New York,
July 4, 1824, in company with Arnaud Robert,
Lieutenant Gale has said :—" I must confess that,
previous to my first voyage, I was as nervous and
perturbed as one might re,idily be supposed to be on
entering a battle-field, amid cannon balls and musket
bullets. I was nervous, indeed, to the extent of
priming myself with what is vulgarly termed "Dutch
courage," but when I had left, the earth I regretted
having made use of any stimulent, or of anything, in
fact, which could obscure or alloy the wonder and
the admiration with which I was filled at the marvel-
lous panorama presented to my view. Some days
after my first ascent Arnaud Robert fell sick of the
yellow fever. An ascent was to have been made by
him from the Castle-garden, New York, on the 25th
July, but, in consequence of his illness, he was pre-
vented from carrying this into effect. He consented
that I should fulfil his engagement for him. This
was a memorable day for me. With a palpitating
heart, and considerable doubts as to my compe-
tency to manage the machine, I at length mus-
tered courage, and stepped into the car alone,
nobody caring to trust themselves with one so
inexperienced. The afternoon was very fine; scarcely
a cloud was to be seen when I took my departure.
However, as is frequently the case in that climate,
after ascending I perceived a bank of clouds very ra-
pidly rising from the southward, and in less than ten
minutes heard a distant murmuring of thunder. The
clouds increased, and at length the earth was com•
pletely hidden from my view. At this period it would
be impossible to describe my sensations. Alone, in-
experienced, and never having witnessed such pheno-
mena as a mass of clouds rolling and tossing beneath
me, like a swollen and turbid ocean, with peal after
peal of thunder, I thought that to descend would
have been certain destruction. I looked at my com,
pass and at the clouds, but it was impossible for me
to descry what course the balloon was taking, until
after some time I perceived the tops of the Kaatskill
mountains, with the clouds rolling in billows over
them, occasionally obscuring them from view. The
sight of land in any shape gave me confidence. It
would be impossible to describe the beauty of the
clouds. The sun shining with all its intenseness ; the
air at one moment frigid, at another breathing warm ;
the silver hue of the topmost clouds breaking into
chasms, with the dark rolling masses beneath, tinted
here and there with sombre red. After passing the
peaks of the Kaatskill mountains the thunder
ceased, having seemingly spent its wrath. The sun
was setting and the chill of the upper atmosphere
caused the gas to condense, and the balloon
gradually to descend. I had not up to this period in-
terfered with the valve line—the balloon acting for
herself—with the exception that as she neared the
clouds, or that the clouds ascended to her, I cast out
occasionally small quantities of ballast. The clouds
became thinner and thinner, and at length the surface
of the country was fairly presented to my view. I
still allowed the balloon to descend by her own specific
gravity, and, looking forward in the direction in which
she was proceeding, keeping the Hudson river as her
course, I saw the city of Albany, when for the first
time I took heart to use the valve line, and descended
safely at Green Bush, within view of the city,
though at the same time part of the river lay between
us. Here I soon obtained assistance. I had
left New York at four in the afternoon,
and it was nine o'clock when I reached the earth
near Albany, thus having travelled 190 miles in five
hours. I was hospitably received, taken to Albany,
and the following evening started per steamer for
New York, where I arrived on the morning of the
28th. I found my friends had entirely given me up
for lost, in consequence of the thunder coming on so
soon after my departure. All, however, were glad
to see me, and proposals were made for me to ascend
again, which I accepted. I subsequently accomplished
several ascents, in all eleven, four of which were
made with M. Robert, and seven alone, when the
death of that gentleman supervening the balloon was
claimed by his family and sent back to France."
From this time L ieut. Gale devoted himself to
other avocations, travelling in their pursuit in all parts
of the States and Upper and Lower Canada. In
1826 he was shipwrecked in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
and had to travel 450 miles in the depth of winter,
with a horde of Indians, and carrying his infant
daughter, whose entire skin, when they ar-
rived at Quebec, peeled off as that of an
onion would do. In 1827 he returned to England,
where he remained four years, and then
returned to Canada. During his stay in Canada he
was occupied in lecturing on astronomy at Quebec,
dealing in fors,
acting and managing a theatre,
hunting and trapping in the wide prairies, and occa-
sionally dwelling among the Indians. On one occasion
he was out eighteen months in a hunting excursion
in the vicinity of Lakes Huron and Superior, and in
company with a party of Chippewa
Indians from
River St. Clair, wintered to the ric rthward of Lake
Winnipeg. After a tour of near four years, he at
New York met with some gentlemen who were about
to bring a party of Chippewa Indians to this country
to be exhibited, and as Lieutenant Gale was acquainted
with the Chippewa language,
customs of this country, he was engaged to accom-
pany them. With these Indians he remained but a
short time. and also with the

Soon after his arrival in England, in 1835, he was
promoted to the rank of lieutenant (having in his
early career served as a midshipman) through the
interest of the late Sir Augustus d'Este, and accepted
service in the coast guard, in the pursuit of which
arduous duty he was stationed in the north and
north-west coast of Ireland during a period of ten
years and four months. Ha retired from it in 1845,
and determined to commence the profession of an
aeronaut.

At the Montpelier Tavern, Walworth, Lieutenant
Gale constructed his first balloon, which was formed
of silk, and about forty feet in diameter. It was named
the Prince of Wales. This balloon differed very much
gulliesba on balloons
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hoistedof
from those previously employed in having supplemental
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balloon. These small ballo up towhthiceh'ebqyuat
ons were connected with
the neck or mouth of the large balloon by means of
long tubes, and Lieutenant Gale's object in having
this additional apparatus was to preserve the gas which
escapes by expansion, and which would pass through
the long tubes into the small balloons, thus pre.
venting the waste of gas. To the balloon were attached
two cars, one fitting within the other like two cups,
and were so arranged that the lowest car could be let
down about thirty feet below the other. By means of
a rope-ladder the aeronaut could easily proceed from
one car to the other. The upper car had a hole in
the bottom sufficiently large for the aeronaut
to pass through. The first ascent of this new
balloon was announced to take place from
the Rosemary Branch Tavern, Peckham, on the
6th April, 1847; but Lieutenant Gale was doomed
to disappointment. After a great quantity of gas had
been forced into the balloon, the gas company an-
nounced that they could not complete the inflation
that day, and consequently the ascent was postponed
till the following day, when Lieut. Gale, with a Mr.
Byrne, ascended successfully from the Rosemary
Branch Tavern. On reaching
a great height the sup-
plemental car was lowered, into which Lieut. Gale
descended by means of the rope ladder, and let off
some fireworks. Having ascended the ladder to his
companion, preparations for descending were soon
begun to be made, but the valve was frozen fast and
would not open. Ballast was thrown out, the balloon
ascended higher, and the gas poured from the neck
in large volumes, so that it soon began to descend, and
the aeronauts landed safely at Ash, in Kent. This
was Lieut. Gale's 12th voyage.
The second ascent with this balloonwas made from
London, and on this occasion Lieut. Gale was accom-
panied by a Mr. Sharp. A new valve, invented by a
Mr. Sadler, had been placed in the crown of the bal-
loon, the springs of which each worked in a groove.
When the balloon was high in the air Mr. Sh arp
pulled the calve spring 5,0 violently that the springs
were forced from the grooves and prevented the valve
from closing. The balloon descended with great
velocity, all the ballast and the empty ballast bags
were thrown out, but such was the rapidity of their
descent that both_the sand and the bags appeared to
fly upwards. In a short time the car came in violent
contact with the earth, but the aeronauts only received
a severe shock. The balloon in its descent formed
into a parachute shape, as balloons always do in de-
scending after losing a great quantity of gas. Bal-
loons have frequently burst at great heights, but not
one case is on record of having terminated fatally to
the aeronauts.
On the 24th of May Lieut. Gale and Mr. Henry
Coxwell ascended from Bristol, and such was the
violence of the wind that they were carried a distance
of thirty-two miles in eighteen
i minutes. On descend-
ing the grapnel caught the iron rails on a railway,