The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-12-29
UP ln A BALLOON.
An Aeronaut's Account OF His voy.
age Across the English Channel .

sWe started from Hastings" says
Mr.. Simmons, under somewhat unfa- |
yorable auspices, the wind being north
easterly at the time. A crowd of some
do, 900 persons had gathered to Wit1less
our departure, and as we sdonded they |
gave us a tremendous cheer My fell |
low passenger, Mr.. Small, o photogl
rapher, was so lost in admiration OF the
magnificent panorama of Hastings lying
below us that. had to warn him that
he mustsbe quick If he wished to obtain
s photograph, and we just got the appa-
ratTls ready as we passed over the
beach, the balloon being at that mo-
ment (3:25) to an altitude of 5000 feet
At $50 we had o long range of coast
line. Eastbourne pier being exceedingly
distinct. ] Thought we were trife too
near Beachy Head ever to make any
point of land on this side of the Allan
tic, but when we attained an altitude of
$500 feet we southed trife more. APP
pearances we're, however, much against
our ever reaching land and must ac-
knowledge that was sorely tempted to
come down off Beachy Head and get
picked up. But this would have been
rather too ignominious, and decided
to keep on our course. We had the
satisfaction, few minutes later, to find
Beach Head reeeding north Of us, and
we quickly settled our minds to make
night of it if necessary.
"At 80 we were over magnificent
cloud scene; here and there patches of
the coast line could be deserted far
away to the west, while at vast dis
tance there was gap through which
we got patch of sea, with three or
four ships very distinct A moment
later and the great curtain of clouds
had shut out our last landmark. Mr..
Small got his apparatus ready to Sc
cure q cloud effect, but his shutter
missed fire two or three times, and this
suggested some little improvements for
such experiments in future. From 4 80
to nearly sunset Ito the people on earth)
our altitude ranged between 5000 and
5000 feet. During this interval we got
peeps at the sea many times, but no
land was seen. We could see the
suns rays two hours after he had with
drawn from earth and sea. The
shadow of the balloon on cloud
looked very much like shuttlecock,
the car forming the butt end, and the
balloon and cords forming the feathers.
The transition from day to night was
very slow and gradual, and as daylight
departed the moons rays from dead
gold gradually changed to bright sill
yer. Mr.. Small said, Did you see that
shooting star?' I said, Wait min
ute, and will show you another The
balloon had commenced to revolve. and
this motion made it appear as though
bright star was darting through the
air. It was, of course, an optical
illusion.
"a remarkable appearance was caused
by the reflection of the balloon in the
focusing screen of the camera. When
we surrounded with black cloth the
frame round the glass we could see the
sky, sun, moon and stars inverted, and
the balloon cleaving it's headlong down
ward course through illimitable space,
the effect being more extraordinary.
Soon after o'clock we began to get
cold, and set to work to don our fan
nels, etc. Our large wrapper got tightly
jammed in the rigging, but the hard
pulling necessary to get it loose soon
made us feel warm, and, having once
got up good circulation, we did not
during the entire voyage again feel cold.
The cork jackets, which were supplied
| by Mr.. Cornish, contributed greatly to
warmth. During the night, for more
than an hour our altitude did not vary
| twenty feet. This was exceedingly en-
couraging, for upon our power of pois-
ing so nicely depended our chance of
floating aloft all night. When the
balloon did take slight downward
turn I carefully noted how much
ballast it would take to stop her. The
temperature of the air was very regu-
lar, and found that seven pounds or
eight pounds was sufficient.
"At 1915 we saw vessel almo st un-
der us, and came down low enough to
hail her. This did as Justify as we
could, but at first got no response, only
remarkably distinct echo from our
own voices. At last voice was heard
on deck. VOLTA, balloon, balloon !!
Are you English?' No reply. Par
lez vous Francaise?' 'Oui, oui,' we re-
/ piled, but with all our French we could
not ascertain our whereabouts, and
whether we were over the English
channel or the Atlantic.
"At 1925 something slightly darker
than the normal horizon could be
family discerned. We kept ourselves
absolutely motionless, and, listening In
tently, we seemed to hear i'll the same
direction a sound as of far-distani
rolling surf looked long and eagerly
until / exclaimed. It's nothing but 6
mist for it seemed to change its form
and at last to vanish into thin air
passed nearly another hour intently
watching for lights until similar darl
portion of horizon was brought under
our view. We could not possibly
bring ourselves to believe it was land
because no lights could be seen up t.
this time, but at last there was an un
mistakable flicker in the exact direction
where 1 was gazing. Look along m,
finger rs a telescope. What do 20,
call that?' 4 lighthouse exclaimed
Mr.. Small. I said, L believe tha
dark strip before us is land, with sc.
just beyond it again. If it turns out t.
be SO, be prompt in doing everything
tell you, for it will be sharp work tt
land on that strip
''The sound of surf was now unmis
taxable, and in about the same time a
I am taking to tell this, the line of coas
was presented distinctly to our view
every minute getting more distinct
The sea now began toripple up sharply
Ten minutes and we were passing tn
coast line, and sharply darting towar
the other sea beyond. What sort c
ground are we coming down on p sal
Mr.. Small. Rugged rocks and ston
walls, believe I said Hold on firm
Out goes the graphing irons At frs