The Grange advance., 1874-09-30
FRENCH BALL0ONlNG,

| FRENCH BALL00NlNG,
An Ascent from Calais and a PLUNGE
in the North Sea.--M. Durouf,s
History Of a Perilous Voyage.
! [From the London Telegraph, Sept. A.
N. Durouf and his wife, who made
! the perilous balloon ascent from Calais
on Monday night, Lave been rescued in
the North sea. As one of the attrao-
tive features Of a public .fete given at
Calais that day, it was announced that
the adventurous aeronaut and his wife
would go up in their balloon, the Tri-
color, and if the wind was favorable
they proposed to make an aerial voy-
| age over the Channel and land in Eng
4and. The wind was squally, and
moreover blew in the wrong direction.
With southeasterly current the at
tempt would have been made, hut it
blew variously south and southwest,
and the only prospect before the voy-
| ayers was descent in the German
ocean, unless they could reach the dis
! o&ShV SAAOA Gu VI AC11llNlh VI NOTWaVs
The authorities forbade the ascent, but
part Of the crowd, disappointed of the
sensational episode Of the days amusc-
ment, taunted Durouf with cowarcice,
and, stung by their taunts, he and his
| wife made the desperate effort to carry
out their engagement, and LIE Tricolor
was seen rising into the clouds just as
night was closing in, and drifting over
the straits of Dover toward the open
sea.
| So it continued to drift for ten hours.
when the gas being partly exhausted it
fell into the North sea.
Then they saw and were seen bv a
Grimsby fishing smack; the crew
! fastened to their rescue, pursued the
! car, which dipped into and arose out of
the water like a flying fish, and finally,
after chase Of hours, saved the half
drowned ae7onaut ard his wife i'll the
| middle Of the North sea, some ITO
miles from the Spur lighthouse.
According to these data it would
seem that the balloon had travelled
about three hundred miles in a direct
line, it's rate being about twenty five
and thirty miles an hour, or twice the
average horizontal motion Of the air.
Subjoined We publish facts taken
from NJ. Duroufs s narration of his voy-
age and rescue: 'ihe balloon went up
amid the acclamation of the crowd, and
for the space Of 327 yards went in a
northerly direction; but upon attain
ing that height our course changed to
the northeast, and shortly afterward
we saw the French and English light
houses at sea, and we seemed to be 90
ing more toward England than toward
France. There were no vessels to be
seen at sea, and night was coming on.
l felt that, in case [ should be obliged
to make long voyage, must econo-
mize my ballast, and I decided to pass
the night watching the ex-
tremity Of the rope, which
was seventy-six yards long, and every
time the rope touched the water I
threw out a very small quantity of bal
last. At 4 A. NJ, just before sunrise,
threw all the light ballast out, and I
discovered that during the night had
been driven in northeasterly direction.
Not knowing the distance I was from
the nearest land, and fearful of being
Grived by another current to the north
ward, I resolved to try to lower N.Y.
self to vessel. maneuvred so as to
get down, and toward o'clock I sue
ceeded. The lower current Of the wind
was blowing northwest. It is
impossible to describe my extreme
thirst. The sea was very rough. With
out any fear I opened the valve, and
descended until the ropes were trailing
in the water, and in an instant we were
past vessel. At o'clock We again
sighted the smack on the horizon, and
saw that she was pursuing US, and by
degrees we noticed that she cam. closer
to us. The cold was yer; severe. and
our limbs were becoming bcnumbed,
our strength was failing us, and the
hope Of being overtaken BY the smack
was the only thing that gave strength
to our arms to hold on. Ny wife's
limbs were benumbed, and at each Jerk
of the balloon she became weaker and
weaker. The smack continued to ap-
proach US. I pointed it out to my vita,
and it renewed her courage. saw the
danger We were IN, and began to
cut the ropes that trailed from the bal
loon. had cut the5greater part Of
them, when I was dashed against the
boat, and let myself fall into it. /, like
my wife, lay helpless in the bottom Of
the boat. The men then let go the
ropes Of the car and tho balloon started
Of with mighty speed toward Norway
] The boat returned TO the smack. We
were put ON board and taken into tAa
cabin, where good fire did not fA1 t.;
bring us round" - M:
The. suspension Nof: Co. SLudma4n&
ECo., of New York, affirm extanhiSelT