Year: 1874

ROW ESCAPE FROM DESTRUCTION.


| The recent balloon voyage of NJ DIru,f
and his wife proves to have been one Of the


must perilOuS recorded in the history Of
aerial navigation. The daring aerunauts left


Calais on Monday evening, the 3lst ult..
and were not heard of until the Friday


following, when they landed at Grimsby. on


the east coast Of England, from a fishing
smack The dangers which befell them in


the meantime are thus described by VI.
Duruof himself:


At 80 p. II. on Monday. Aug. 81. being
anxious that the ascent should not be put off
to the following day, and fearing that we
should have the same weather. and 81 he
obliged 10 put off the ascent a second time,
| took advantage of the south wind to at
tempt to @ IN the air, under the pretext of
having a captive ascent merely; bat re-
solved To avail myself of this wind. which
was to have taken Us to England. Nv wife


being with ne, and all being ready, ! told
the people who were holding the rope of the
balloon To le, -. and at the same time let
70 the hand of a soldier, there being twenty
five soldiers in attendance upon me The
balloon went up amid the acclamations Of
the crowd, and for the space Of $50 yards
went in nOrtherly direction but upon OBJ
tanning that height oar course changed to
the northeast. and shortly afterwards we
saw the French and English lighthouses at
sea. and we seemed t. be going more to-
ward, England than toward France There
were no vessels 10 he seen 1T sea, and night
WAS coming on. felt that in this case |
should be obliged to make long voyage.
and | must economic my ballast, and de-
ciied u pass the night watching the ex-
tremity Of the rope. - yards bong, and
every time il touched the water | threw out
very small quantity Of ballast ~ a.
m. Just before sunrise, threw all the bal
last out, and discovered that during the
night had been driven in north-ea~tcrly
direction. Not knowing the distance wa>
from the nearest land, and fearful Of being
driven by another current to the northward,
! resolved to lower myself To a vessel. |
perceived many Of all sizes below me. heing
about a mile high. | mhnoeuverei 50 to get
down, and toward ) O'Clock succeeded. The
lower current Of the wind xas blowing north


west. 1t Is impossible to describe my ex


treme thirst and nv poor wife, whom |
tried to console by telling her that We were
going in the right direction, did not loSe
courage showed her two vessels in the
direction we were falling. and made her
understand that We were trying to get stop
ped bv one Of them. OF eight hagS cf hal


ast had taken with me | had only dis
charged three, and | should have been able,
if needful, to continue my journey for l3 or
4 hours. noticed that the smallest Of the
vessels. a fishing smack, manOeuvered and
tried to cross by path. The SEA was very
rough indeed Without any fear, opened
the valve and descended until the ropes were
trailing in the water, and in an Instant We
were past the vessel The crew Of the smack,
however. launched their Sailboat, and two
men rowed it toward Us. 1t was then
o'clock, and seeing the good will of the fish
ermcn to help u, resolved to stop the speed
Of the balloon by springing the valve until
the car filled with water, and thus would
give more assistance to the balloon. How
ever. when turned round | could not see
the vessel. From time to time tremendous
waves broke upon the balloon, covering us
with water. but still the balloon resisted,
and NV fear then was that the balloon might
burst. in which case we should assuredly
have been lost. At O'Clock we again sight
cd the smack on the horizon, and saw that
she was pursuing u. and 10y degrees we
noticed that she came close to Us. The cold
was very severe, and our limbs were becom-
ing benumbed our strength was failing Us,
and the hope of being Overtaken by the
smack was the only thing that gave strength
to our arms to hold on. My wiie's limbs
were benumbed, and at each jerk of the hal
loon she became weaker and weaker The
smack continued to approach Us. and was
now within $50 yards. pointed 1t out 10
my wife, and that renewed her courage.


What was more trying was being obliged to
| hold her in my arms The smack WAS then
very near US, and | raised myself on the


ropes and saluted our sailors. They saw


Us. and launched their boat, being ab1u.
/ POO wards ahead of US The small boat was


manned by the master (Wm. Oxley) and the


mate. They came nearer To the car and


took hold OF the rope. At this time their
/ boat was nearly sinking on account OF the


strong Jerks of the balloon, but they did not
| lose courage. and, taking hold Of my wife's
/ hand. who was like n corpse, they dragged
/ her as best they could into their boat. |


saw the danger they were in, and began to
| cut the ropes that were following the bal


loon | had cut the greater part OF them
I when | was dashed against the boat, and let


myself fall iato it. |, like my wife. lay
| helpless at the bottom of the boat. They


let 90 the car, and the balloon rushed of with


a mighty speed toward Norway. The boat


returned to the smack, and we were put on
/ board and taken into the cabin, where good


fire did not fail to bring us round. We


have only to express our thanks to the men


for the care and kindness those good sailors
/ showed to US during the voyage to Grimsby,


which lasted until a. IN. this morning.