Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-02-02
THE sALApIN,s FATE.
A Few shreds of it Found in the Span
ish Mountains.

A short dispatch from Paris. published
in the Times recently, announced the
hnding of the balloon Saladin among the
mountains of the Sierra del PhedroZa, in
/ Spain. The Saladin, of which probably
only few fragments and shreds of cloth
now remain, was constructed at the Royal
! Arsenal, Woolwieh, England. about four
/ years ago, and during the summer OF 1881
it was lent by the British War Depart
ment to the Meteorological Society, who
/ used 1t TO take observations of the atmOs-
! phere. The balloon was not made of silk
| but of stout calico, dressed inside and
| outside with oil, and it was regarded
| as one of the strongest ever made
| Its cubical contents were $4,000
feet; when inflated with hydrogen gas it
| lifted 20 pounds for every 1000 cubic feet
and with coal gas 40 pounds for 900 cubic
feet. such balloon, in the opinion of the
| most prominent aerOnauts 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 in
| f1ated. Early in the afternoon of Decem-
Der 10, 1881, the Saladin assembled from the
ancient city OF Bath, in England, carry
ing Captain John Templer, of the
| meteorological office Captain A.
! Gardner, and Mr.. Walter Powell.
| member OF Parliament for Malmesbury
an enthusiastic amateur in acrOstatics.
Mr.. PowelPs 6earlessness in balloon
ing had become a prOyerb among his
friends, and he had often expressed
| his determination to cross the Attain
| tic through the air. The balloon went I'D
| 1000 feet, and Captain Templer took the
| temperature at that altitude; the wind
| carried the balloon in southeastern di-
rectiOn, and it was determined to make a
landing at BridpOrt, on the cliffs over
looking the channel. 1t was late in the
| afternoon when the erOnauts, having
cruised about at distances varying from
| 1000 to 5000 feet above the earth's sur
face, began to descend near the cliffs.
here there appears to have been some
| dlffculty. At any rate, the Saladin went
| toward the earth with alarming rapidity,
| and as it neared the ground Captain Tenn
pier rolled out, holding the valve-string
| Freed of Templer'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 slipping away
| from him, and called to Powell to throw
| himself out and come down ON the rope,
! but he remained in the car, which sud
| denly broke away from Templer and went
up. to fearful height. 1t passed over
| BrldpOrt in sight of all the town and
| over the water of the Channel, when it be-
came lost in the lowering snow clouds.
| At a distance excited watchers on the
| ellis saw dark mass falling, and when
Templer, having found some one to take
care of his crippled companion, reached
the town, he was told that the balloon had
dropped into the sea. This statement
he did not believe, but nevertheless
he 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 9rOnaut would believe that
the Saladin had fallen; the balloon would
probably land on the French coast, be-
tween st. MalO and Brest, they said, and
as there were no telegraph wires or rail-
| roads or even Omnibuses in that part of
| France, it would be DAYS before
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 aronaut
it undoubtedly did not pitch into the
Channel, but had, inflated with gas, sailed
| through the air for many days. But while
the tattered rags and splintered wood
which formed it have been rotting among
the peaks of Spain, the bones of the in
! trepid aronaut have been whitening be-
meath the waters of the English Channel.