Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1886-09-07
ANNAPOLIS MD. TUESDAY EVENING. SEPTEMBER. I 1886.
HOURS m A BALLOON,
over Land and sea--Ths Exciting Expert
ences Of an Aeronaut.

Over Land and Seae-Th0 Exciting Experf-
ences og an Aeronaut.
: Tell me something about the most
perilOus voyage you ever made ~ was
demanded Of Professor King, the
aeronaut.
well, let me see. The most perllous
voyage. think, was over the Maine and
Canada wilderness from New Hampshire
down the Gulf Of st. Lawrence
We assembled 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 IL.
ssAfter 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 light on one of the shores and
halloed. We seemed TO attract attention,
but no response was made.
= A canoe was put down In the water,
and we could see 1t dodglng around in
the water as Ii they were looking for
something. They thought the cry prob
ably came from somebody on the water.
We soon left the light behind, and.
nearing the mountain shortly afterward,
we dropped behind It in shelter and
rested for about half an hour
- While we were discussing (by the by
! had Luther L. Holden, OF the Boston
Journal, with me, who had been on
some twenty-five voyages before) what
course it would be best to pursue, being
In the wilderness and poorly provided
with provisions. we finally decided to
start the balloon afloat and see II we
could cross the wilderness to some in-
habited region In Canada.
/" Our balloon was only OF 10000 feet
capacity, and not calculated, except
under such q stress OF circumstances, to
remain afioat 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 q 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 a balloon reaches the ordinary
cloud heights 1t becomes poised. and
neither rises nor falls without any ex-
penditure Of sand or ballast, and so will
free from leakage.
. Well, we floated on in the clouds,
which we're occasionally overour 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 cameto our ears were the occasional
cries Of loon and the sound OF failing
waters. From our isolated position we
could constantly hear the latter.
. AS hour after hour dragged tedious
~ away we sat. in the car. We could
see each other and kept up conversa-
tion, but we could not tell what time 1t
was except by passing our fingers over
the hands Of our watches. You know
1t would have been dangerous to strike
q match.
: Pretty soon a new feature among
the sounds OF the waters struck our
ears. We wondered what caused the
peculiar noise, and finally concluded 1t
was the breakers. After passing over
them all sounds ceased, and we then
knew we were on the briny deep. AS It
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 1t rests
upon the water.
= We kept constant watch, and In the
course OF an hour we saw in front of us
q black line, which was apparently with
in q few feet OF us, and we prepared to
grasp 1t, but 1t proved an Illusion, and as
we watched the object It gradually
widened, and soon after our drag-rope
was caught among the tree tops. We
then found that we had run ashore over
a forest, presuming 1t at the time to be
an island, BIZ. as 1t turned out the
balloon had n. with counter current
of air on the water, which carried It
back TO the mai lland We again rested
behind hill, where we lay till the
break Of day, when we threw out the
balance Of our ballast and rose again.
After while we diseerned O road, and
succeeded In landing within mile and
q half Of it. We made for the nearest
place Sayebec, which Is about ESQ
miles below Quebec--and learned that
the water we had gone out on was the
Cali OF st. Lawrence. If we had con-
tlnued across It we would have reached
the coast OF Labrador, $50 miles further
on. As it was we travelled $50 miles IN
thirteen hours II Richmond nfnnnfph.