Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-03-30
A BALLOON TRAGEDY.


The Fra9n'sfats ~ an -4erSaI ship Discor-
cred jIs t7.e Mountains Of Spain Taco
Years fJtci' at Sailed.
short dispatch from Paris recently an.
nounced the tindingsof the balloon Saladin
among the mountains of Siera-del Phedro-
za,in Spain. The Saladin,of which probably
only few fragments and shreds of cloth
yaow remain, was constructed at the Royal
arsenal, Woolwich, England, about four
years ago,and during the summer of 1881 it
was sent by the British war department. to
the meteorological society, who used it to
take observations of the atmosphere The
balloon was not made of silk, but of stout
calico, dressed inside and out with oil and
1t was regarded as one of the strongest
ever made. Its cubical contents were S.
600 feet; when inflated with hydrogen gas
1t lifted seventy pounds for every 1000
cubic feet, and with coal gas forty pounds
for every 1000 cubic feet. Such balloon,
IN the opinion of the most prominent aero
nauts in Great Britain, ought to have been
capable of supporting the weight of its
car and one man for several days, even
if only half inflated. Early ia the after
noon of Dec. 10, 1881, the Saladin
assembled from the ancient city of
Bath, in England, carrying Capt. John
Templer, of the meteorological Office, Capt.
A. Gardner, and Mr.. Walter Powell, mem
Der of parliament for Malmesbury, an en-
thusiastic samateur in aerostatics. Mr..
Powell's fearlessness in ballooning had be-
come proverb among his friends and he
had often expressed his determination to
cross the Atlantic through the air. The
balloon went up 1000 feet, and Capt. Tenn
pier took the temperature at that altitude;
the wind carried the balloon in a southeast
erly direction, and it WIS determined to
make landing at Bridport, on the cliffs
overlooking the channel. 1t was late in the
afternoon when the aeronauts hav-
ing cruised about at distances va
rying from 1000 to 5000 feet
above the earth's surface, began
to descend near the cliff. Here there ap-
pears to have been some difficulty. At
any rate the Saladin went to earth with
great rapi6ity, and as ii neared the ground
Capt. Templer rolled out, holding the
valve string. Freed of TempIer's weight
the balloon shot up again about eight feet,
and Capt. Gardner fell from the car,
breaking one of his legs as he reached the
ground. Templer felt the valve rope slip
ping away from him and called to Powell
to throw himself out and come down the
rope, but he remained in the car, which
suddenly broke away from TempIer and
went up TO a fearful height. It passed
over Bridport in sight of all the town, and
over the waters Of the channels, when it be-
came lost in the lowering snow-clouds.
At distance excited watchers on the cliffs
saw dark mass falling, and when Templer,
having found some one to take care of his
companion, reached the town, he was told
that the balloon had dropped into the sea.
This statement he did not believe, but new
ertheless be chartered a steamer and went
in search of the balloon and Powell. That
day while the light lasted, and all the next
day, and the next they grappled and
dragged the waters, but to no purpose.
Meanwhile the theorists came to the front.
No real aerOnautwould believe that the Sa-
ladin had fallen; the balloon would prob
ably land on the French coast,
between St.e Malo and Brest, they
said, and Is there we're no telegraph
wires or railroad trains or even omn1buses
IN that part OF France, it would be days be-
fore any tidings OF Mr.. Powell could be
received. The first tidings of him have
now been received, more than thirteen
months after his Disappearance. The
wreck of the balloon discovered in the
Spanish mountains settles the dispute as
to the strength Of that pride of the @ro-
maui; ii undoubtedly did not pitch into
the channel but, half inflated with gas,
sailed through the air for many days. But
while the tattered rags and splinterad
wood which formed II have been rotting
among the peaks Of Spain, the bones of
the intrepid IerOnaut have been whitening
beneath ta5 yatecs Of the English channel.