Part 14
As the writer of this book holds it to be his province, and his duty as a practical man to review both sides of public opinion respecting his speciality, he considers it right to state, that the representatives of the press, like the representatives of our constituencies in parliament, do not all take one and the same view about military ballooning; neither do superior officers or the rank-and-file, who, in these advanced days are quite capable of drawing their own conclusions.
A paragraph which I read in the Court Society Review, was to this effect.
“I have very little faith in military balloons for the purposes of observation. In the Soudan no atmospheric conditions, and many were tried, were found to be suitable, for even when the air was dead-still, and brilliantly clear, the balloon waggled to such an extent as to make telescopic observation impossible, or, at any rate, practically useless. At the Easter Monday fight, an infinitely more futile attempt was made to employ the balloon in a stiffish breeze, and the result was, of course, as worthless as the experiment was dangerous.
“All the same, for signalling, especially at night, captive balloons might be made of immense use.”
Secondly, we have another rather discouraging experience, which ought not to be forgotten or omitted in these pages.
It is in McClellan’s own story, about their doings on April 11th, 1862, and is rather amusing than complimentary to the cause I have so long advocated.
“I am just recovering,” the writer observes, “from a terrible scare. Early this morning I was awakened by a despatch from Fitz-John’s head-quarters, stating that Fitz had made an ascension in the balloon this morning, and that it had broken away and come to the ground some three miles south-west, which would be within the enemy’s lines.
“You can imagine how I felt. I at once sent off to the various pickets to find out what they knew, and tried to do something to save him, but the order had no sooner gone, than in walks Fitz, just as cool as usual. He had luckily come down near my own camp, after actually passing over that of the enemy.
“You may rest assured of one thing,” was the remark: “you won’t catch me in the confounded balloon, nor will I allow any other General in it.”
On the converse side, it should be mentioned that in a telegram received at Washington during the Civil War, it was stated, “that all the information received from _balloons_, deserters, prisoners, &c., agrees in the statement that the mass of the rebel troops were still in the immediate vicinity of Richmond, ready to defend it.”
As a pioneer myself in the service of military ballooning, I heartily wish that something more had been carried out in the decidedly important neighbourhood of Suakim.
I was constantly suggesting plans; among others, to take out an apparatus and holder for the generation of coal gas, feeling persuaded that at a short notice, an enterprising private firm would have sent out an equipment with the necessary men and coals, to generate gas on the old quick and cheap plan, in addition to the compressed hydrogen system. There are, certainly, some advantages in employing the lighter gas, but several counter and compensating results might be adduced on the other side, one of which is, that in a hot climate, pure hydrogen will escape quicker than the denser production, and, I have no hesitation in saying, that a small skin balloon behaves itself in a breeze with an infinitely less steady action, than a more enlarged surface with greater vertical power imparted to it, which is one out of many of those secrets of success, which men of long experience are well aware of, and I do believe that a certain amount of co-operation between civilian experts, and the military engineers would be attended with good results.
I am not referring particularly to the English school of balloonists, but to foreign corps as well.
It is a regrettable fact that one cannot perceive in the whole list of balloon transactions in warfare, either at home or abroad, any deeds that are at present conspicuously worth chronicling. The splendid exodus of hastily organised balloonists, chiefly sailors, who went out of Paris during the Franco-German War, can scarcely be called military ballooning.
There was no strategy, exceptional skill, or discoveries to mark and dignify their departure or descent; only a most valuable and timely postal and parcels delivery transmission.
This was excellent auxiliary aid, and altogether _sui generis_, but it was not manœuvring with the enemy or rendering fresh intelligence which could not be gained by ordinary scouts, I mean in a strictly military sense. The winged messengers (pigeons) were certainly helped in their work by having a lift up on their outward journey; but what we should like to hear of, when balloons show up in war time, is that something important has been seen and reported which would have escaped notice but for the argus-eyed aëronauts.
A considerable amount of bewilderment, as we have said, accompanies a novice’s first glance of the earth’s surface, when villages, fields, towns and fortresses, are seen under a new aspect, with minimised proportions reduced to the model size, and seen from above instead of horizontally.
It requires a trained observer to make heads, tails, and relative proportions out of the new map, and if any altitude has to be attained, very small machines will not do, they may be light and of little capacity, but they are unable to offer a powerful upward tug, which is indispensable for steadying the balloon when telescopic observations have to be made.
The action of diminutive machines of this kind may not inaptly be compared to the jerking, fitful movement, of certain small birds, such as a tomtit, or a titlark, as contrasted with the soaring power of an eagle, or the steadied poise of a hawk.
The balloon, under which Lord Wolseley took a bird’s-eye view, is described as “a magnificent spic and span new aërial machine, constructed of the new preparation of _bullock’s skin_, and capable of containing 10,000 feet of compressed gas,” by which is meant, I presume, 10,000 feet of hydrogen gas that has been compressed and subsequently liberated into the said balloon.
If I were questioned as to the value of this kind of material for the objects intended by the designers, I should, certainly, not speak disparagingly of it, because I think that skin may be very good in its way, but I believe that a certain quality of silk, all things considered, is more reliable, and if it is heavier than skin, it is more readily repaired in case of fracture, and would better resist the shrivelling effects of a hot atmosphere, and of sudden gusts of wind. Silk is also less tempting to the gnawing of insects.
If it is supposed that the use of skin is a new adaptation, I can remove any false impression of that sort by stating that half a century since, I saw and handled a huge balloon composed of similar animal substance, which was called Egg’s folly. The gunmaker had built an enormous fish shaped affair, and it had, fish like, an air bladder to assist it in rising and descending. I was asked to buy the lot which had been laid by for some years, but it was not to my taste; later on, however, after Mr. Barnum had brought over the dwarf, Tom Thumb, to this country, an exhibition was got up at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, and Mr. C. Green was asked to provide a suitable balloon to take up Tom Thumb for a captive ascent.
The air bladder then cropped up, as it would lift fifty or sixty pounds when filled with ordinary gas, and I well remember witnessing the ascent, and shaking hands with the occupant of the little car.
I was informed afterwards by the veteran himself, that Captain Currie, who was a frequent voyager at that time, wished to train and lose weight, so that the skin balloon would take him up, if filled with hydrogen instead of coal gas.
I do not think the trial came off, but I can vouch for it, that the so-called bullock’s skin is by no means a novel departure.
We thus learn that history repeats itself, even in an art which is practically little more than a century old.
If we turn from the balloon force at home, and direct a glance towards the continent, as much difference is to be observed in their aërostatic pretensions, as there is between our small and compact army, when compared with the millions of bayonets (and good ones no doubt) that are ready to do battle whenever the dogs of war shall be let loose for slaughter.
In England, preference is shown for exceedingly small bullock’s skin balloons.
In France they are cigar or cannon shaped, with steering power and propelling machinery attached. I am referring, now, to the war balloons at Meudon.
Germany inclines to medium sized spherical balloons, composed of silk by preference--and I think they are right--to the calico or muslin balloons in store at Chatham or Lidsing.
Russia, if we may believe newspaper accounts, is provided with an air torpedo, besides Montgolfier, and gas balloons. The torpedo air ship can take up eight hundredweight of dynamite, the application of which I have already pictured.
An American novelty consists of an electro dynamic air ship, in the form of a cigar cut lengthways, which presents a flat underside, and a rounded upper; it is constructed of seven independent cells, which are divided longitudinally, making fourteen separate compartments in all.
Among the attractions proposed for the Paris exhibition of 1889, is a captive balloon, having a capacity of 1,800,000 cubic feet, which will take up one hundred passengers.
Then comes the most wonderful invention of all, a balloon which is to surpass in speed the Flying Scotchman. The German Government is stated to have purchased this monster for a million marks, and the constructor is to have a handsome pension for life. I do not believe it!
Now, if these formidable rivals are bent on mischief, and find an opportunity of indulging their destructive propensities, there will be lively and sensational diversions overhead, no less than frightful work beneath, particularly if the torpedoes act their part as expected.
Many scientific men, and all the professional aëronauts, with whom I am acquainted, regard this tall talk, not altogether in a literal and serious light, but as a scare and exchange of swagger between those powers who desire to be thought most efficient in modern appliances for warfare. Be that as it may, there can be no doubt that vast sums of money have been expended, and extensive preparations made, in aërostatic material.
There is something about all this boasting and threatening which is calculated to disturb the serenity of susceptible persons, when they read of hundreds of pounds of dynamite and chemical compounds being cast down upon contending armies, and about forts blown up, especially when it is remembered that no shields or ramparts are ever raised, or dreamt of, to resist a vertical onslaught from the regions above. This mode of attack would, to all intents and purposes, prove a novelty, and the question is, whether the lieutenants of our far seeing general, who approves of new tactics, are prepared to resist this kind of thing should a detachment of air torpedoes swarm like wasps or locusts upon our numerically small army, or should they even seek out our tiny war balloons and demolish them with a fell swoop of explosives.
The bare idea of such an ignominious extinction brings us to the vital question of how such intruders could be sent to the right about, or brought low by arms of precision.
Lieutenant B. Baden-Powell, in his able lecture at the Royal United Service Institution, took the danger into consideration; not I think under any apprehension about the descent of dynamite shells, but simply of the customary missiles which are discharged from cannon and small arms. We may infer that air torpedoes and such like were not dreaded.
Mr. Baden-Powell starts from an apt and thrilling commencement when he says--
“First then, the chance of being wrecked by shots from the enemy.
“It must be remembered,” he goes on to say, “that the balloon would generally be some way behind the first line, and that the enemy would hardly, especially during the heat of battle, pay much attention to it. It is well to remember that if only hit by a few bullets it would not be much damaged, and could be quickly repaired. Both at Frankfort and at Frankenthal the balloons were penetrated by bullets, at the latter place by nine, but the balloon remained up three-quarters of an hour after. In some experiments made at Tours, a balloon was penetrated by bullets at 1,000 yards, but the escape of gas was very slow, and the balloon remained up some time longer.
“_Secondly_--and now comes a case in point which should not be lightly passed over, it is this--
“In 1880 the Siege Operations’ Committee made an experiment at Dungeness with rather more disastrous results for the balloon. An eight-inch howitzer was directed on a captive balloon 2,000 yards off, and 800 feet high. The first shot was unsuccessful, the exact range not being known. The second shell, however, burst just in front of the balloon and tore it open. But even then it took fifteen minutes to descend, so that the aëronauts would have been safe.” Later tests have also taken place.
Many persons would think, and as many more might argue with some show of common sense on their side, that the actual safety of a party of balloonists after their machine had been torn open by a shell from an eight-inch howitzer was perilous in the extreme; but the lecturer had no such fears probably, as he went on with unmoved visage, I daresay, to remark that “bullets made of spongy platinum had been suggested as a means of igniting the hydrogen in a balloon by mere contact.”
But these stirring and well nigh nerve-testing quotations need not be dwelt upon to any further extent, they suffice to show that the risks, without taking into consideration the doings of those horrid torpedoes, have been fairly weighed.
If the dynamiters put in an appearance, and manage by skilful steering to be in at close quarters, then all I have to say is Heaven help those who may be in their power.
While contemplating this all important phase of aërostatics, I sometimes wonder whether these and other equally important ideas have ever entered into the fertile brains of those, whose province it is to lead and direct the military balloon tactics. There are, I have no hesitation in saying, at this critical period of our national history, uses for balloons even in this country, considering its position and possible surroundings, which I could point out if they would be listened to, and which at no distant period may be found unprovided for when most needed.
I recollect when first I talked over with Major Grover, R.E., who went up with me, my plan for using small and large balloons for destructive purposes, I had such a friendly but scathing glance that I at once interpreted his meaning to the effect that “anything of that sort would not be countenanced at head-quarters.”
Well, I have lived to draw attention to the very suggestions which were lightly esteemed a quarter of a century since, but I will not allude to any fresh conceptions at the present time.
Sir Edward Birkbeck, M.P., has done useful service in narrating not long since his experiences with me in the year 1862. Observations for military purposes were gone into, and our ascent made in the presence of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sutherland was narrated with spirit. Instructive comments followed, and war balloons were referred to which have since been spoken of in a pleasing letter, wherein Sir Edward gave evidence that he still has a taste for scientific ballooning.
[Illustration]
REMARKABLE ASCENTS DURING THIS CENTURY.
At no time during my own recollection, has an attempt, to reach a great height, been heralded with greater stir and interest than the voyage by Messrs. Jovis and Mallet from Paris, on August 13th, 1887.
In England, scientific men, professional aëronauts, and the public, regarded it with favour and admiration, that is, so far as their spirited intentions were interpreted on this side of the channel; and I may take upon myself to say, that it was viewed with no envious feelings, it being clear, that two enterprising men were desirous of trying their hands at adding lustre to the annals of aëronautics, and, that like a great many travellers in new and untried latitudes, these courageous aëronauts would do their best for their employers, and their own credit, or perish in the struggle, which last they were not wholly unprepared for, having disposed of their bodies in case of a fatal issue.
Of course, the press as a faithful mirror of public opinion, was not entirely in accord with their aims, about which some wrote severely and disparagingly, as it seemed to them, that the most apparent motive for the ascent, was to settle at what height animal life could exist; and other reviewers went so far as to insinuate, that pigeons and guinea-pigs were all very well, but in reality, it was a thinly veiled international bit of rivalry, as to who should go highest, Frenchmen or Englishmen.
Well, even if there existed a limited amount of this sort of thing, it was only friendly rivalry, which no true Briton could possibly object to, or be afraid of; it was not, however, to be expected that in France or England another expedition, which might be ill-fated like Sivel’s and Crose Spenelli’s, would be recognized without protest and free writing. Still, on the whole, Captain Jovis and Lieut. Mallet were well received, and I have little hesitation in saying that if an aëronaut, in this country, had on his own account or on that of a newspaper proprietor, done the like, he would have been, in all probability, denounced for his pains, as such an undertaking would not do here, unless a scientific society, or some pre-eminent physicist were to embark in totally fresh experiments.
As an instance of this very natural spirit of emulation, which is to be met with among enthusiastic air travellers, I may mention, that after I had initiated the late lamented Mr. Walter Powell, M.P., by taking him a long trip from Ashford, in Kent, to Crediton, in Devonshire, he wished, among other chivalrous schemes, not only to go straight to Rome without let or hindrance, which was most plucky and ambitious, but he wanted, without being duly acclimatised, to go seven miles high. I took upon myself to discountenance this and other suggestions, and was most likely considered a slow old coach for my pains, but I rather prided myself upon being properly cautious, and as I considered my patron’s views rather too advanced for me at my time of life, I gladly allowed that gentleman to pass into other hands, and what occurred afterwards is a matter not easily forgotten.
In Messrs. Jovis and Mallet’s ascent, there was a conspicuous omission in the first place, in not giving the size of their balloon. This was neglectful and ominous, as it is by figures and facts, that a fair and proper estimate can be formed as to the competency of the aëronaut and his balloon to do the work he takes in hand.
M. Wilfrid de Fonvielle, by correct calculations, found it too small for the intended elevation.
Whether aëronauts of the highest rank, such as the Tissandiers, Camille Flammarion, and de Fonvielle, were too polite and forbearing, as to impossibilities, I am not aware. The latter authority is known to be free from all party prejudices, to have an opinion of his own, and to utter it when necessary.
De Fonvielle may well have had doubts, I remember that Green had, as to the heights attained by Robertson and Gay-Lussac, the former being credited with having risen over 7,000 metres, while the latter reached 23,000 feet--higher, be it observed, than the 22,960 feet reached by Jovis.
Green never could make out, to use his own words, “how it was that they did it with balloons, as small as were quoted in the accounts of Robertson’s and Gay-Lussac’s experiments.”
“Certainly,” as the veteran observed, “they used hydrogen, but there must have been very little left of it on returning to the earth, if the diameters of their small balloons were no more than stated,” that is as Green added with emphasis, “if they touched 22,000 or 23,000 feet.”
By the light of our present investigations and deductions, it appears that many of the accounts of the early ascents in this century, viz., in 1803 and 4, are unreliable statements, and not altogether excusable.
For instance, Robertson, in his journey from Hamburg, said that “his head swelled, and that blood came from his nose.”
M. L’Hoest, his companion, was violently affected in a similar way; he could not get his hat on.
Mr. Glaisher’s head and mine were covered with caps, but I did not notice any cerebral expansion, being very intent upon the expansion of the gas; in short, we were always sticking to more important business.
“At their greatest elevation they could scarcely hear each other speak.”
Now I found at seven miles high, and at five and six, that in the absence of all sounds it was not necessary to speak much above a whisper, and that palpitations, watch-ticks, &c., were audible with an increase of sound the higher I got.
Robertson and his friend “could scarcely resist a strong inclination to sleep.”
I not only knew the great importance of keeping _wide awake_, but felt no desire to do otherwise.
Robertson’s balloon contained only 9,000 cubic feet of hydrogen.
It weighed, with all its apparatus, 5 pood 2 pounds, or a little over 200 pounds, and the weight of the whole was 18 pood 3 pounds.
Now, unless these figures are incorrect, a man like Charles Green might well feel doubtful.
M. Gay-Lussac on September 15th, 1804, when he attained 7016 metres, though well clothed, began to feel cold, he was still “far from experiencing such uneasiness as to oblige him to descend,” his pulse and respiration were accelerated; these were all the inconveniences he felt, and they read to my thinking more correct and natural than Robertson’s.
Green had no belief in what may be styled miraculous ballooning, by that I mean in going up very high or extremely far in a very diminutive balloon.
Practically speaking, irrespective of exact mathematical determinations, a sure and certain test is the amount of ballast taken, together with the volume of gas in the balloon at starting, and the space left for expansion, supposing that the ascent is made with only a partial inflation.
It is useless to boast of distance or height, unless sand equal to the occasion can be taken in the car; and if the diameter and depth of the machine is not in conformity with well established rules, no confidence should be placed in unsupported vapourings, as all the accessories to which I refer must be in order and bear comparison, one with another.