The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1886-09-17
THIRTEEN HOURS IN A BALLOON.
Over Land and Sea--The Exciting Expert
ences of an Aeronaut.

over Land and Seattle Exciting Expert
ences of an Aeronaut.
Tell me something about the most
perilous voyage you ever madeP = was
demanded of Professor King, the
aeronaut.
voyage, think, was over the Maine and
Canada wilderness from New Hampshire
down the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- We ascendei from Plymouth and
rose into the clouds. A slight rain was
falling. Our course was northwest. and
soon we found ourselves over one of the
White Mountains, and we had to throw
out ballast to keep from striking 1t.
"After passing over Mount Jefferson
and Mount Adams, of the White Noun
tains we plunged into the Wilderness,
or at least passed over it. About night
fall. as we were crossing Lake Umbagog,
we saw a light on one of the shores and
haiIoed. We seemed to attract attention,
but no eSpOnSp was made.
q. A canoe was put down in the water,
and we could see It lodging around in
the water as il they were looking fOI
someth ng. They thought tn cry prob
ably came from somebody on the water
We soon left the light behind, and
nearing the m 'untaiu short ~ afteTward,
we dropped behind it IN shelter and
rested for about halt an hour.
" While we were discussing by the by
I had Luther L. Holden, Of the Boston
journal, with me, who had been on
some twenty five voyage heforr) what
course it would be best To purs he, being
in the WI .eruess and poorly provided
with provisions, we finally decided TO
start the nalloOn ahaat and zee if we
could cross the Wilderness to some in
habitad region in Canada
O.. Our balloon was only Of 20 600 feet
capacity, and not calculated, except
& .arr r47rr tcr~a NO 70,
remain atloat so long as we would re-
Quire to cross the wilderness. We had
still however, q bag and half Of ballast
left which we were economically using
" Just here there was a natural law to
be discovered. which was Of itself suffi-
cient TO carry US through without the
use OF ballast It appears that at night
when balloon reaches the ordinary
cloud heights it becomes poised, and
neither rises nor falls without any ex-
penditure of sand or ballast, and so will
float for hours provided the balloon is
free from leakage.
" Well, we foated on in the clouds,
which were occasionally over our heads,
and once or twice during the night we
saw the moon through the riffs. and
frequently they would break from be-
meath US, so that we would look into an
inky abyss below. The only sounds
that came to our ears were the occasional
cries Of a loon and the sound of falling
waters. From our isolated position we
could constantly hear the latter.
g AS hour after hour dragged tedious
ly away we sat in tie car. We could
see each other and kept up a conversa-
ton, but we could not tell what time it
was except by passing our fingers over
the hands Of our watches. You know
it would have been dangerous to strike
a match.
90 pra++v uOor n nom Faa+rra aroor,S,
the sounds of the waters struck our
ears. We wondered what caused the
peculiar noise, and finally concluded il
was the breakers. After passing over
them all sounds ceased, and we then
knew we were on the briny deep. AS 1t
did not seem to be policy to pursue the
course we were in, we brought the
balloon down slightly and slowly some
twenty or thirty miles from where we had
heard the surf and deposited our drag
rope upon the water. This rope Is an
appendage to the balloon about $50 feet
long, and acts as a ballast when it rests
upon the water.
We kept constant watch. and in the
course OF an hour we saw in front Of us
a black line, which was apparently with
in a few feet of US, and we prepared to
grasp it, but it proved an illusion, and as
we watched the object il gradually
widened. and soon after our drag-rope
was caught among the tree tops. We
then found that we had run ashore over
forest, presuming it at the time to toe
an island, but as it turned out the
balloon had met with counter current
of air on the water which carried it
back to the mainland. We again rested
behind a hill, where We lay till the
break of day, when we threw out the
balance of our ballast and rose again.
After a while we discerned a road, and
succeeded in landing within a mile and
a half Of it, We made Tor the nearest
place-Sayebec, which is about 250
miles below Quebec-and learned that
the water we had gone out on wa the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. If we had con-
tinued across it we would have reIched
the coast of Labrador $50 miles further
on. As it was we travelled $50 miles il
thirteen hours Richmond Dispatch.