Part 16

Among the numerous newspaper reports which are on my table, are several relative to what, in plain unvarnished English, we should describe as a parachute descent. But the one I allude to was not like Cocking’s, Garnerin’s, Le Turr’s, or Hampton’s, it had a size and peculiarity worth notice.

This American parachute had a very small and possibly inferior covering; it was hardly equal to the man who is sketched with herculean proportions, and required, one would say, a more efficient support, especially as he indulged in no car or wicker protection, but hung earthwards with his hands grasping the hoop.

The descent is described as successful, it was made from a balloon on August 9th, at Rockaway, New York State, U.S.A.

The aëronaut’s name was Thomas S. Baldwin, and he first ascended in his balloon the “City of Quincy,” which rose to a height of over a 1,000 feet, when he grasped the parachute and cut himself adrift from the balloon.

The manœuvre shows a want of aëronautic common sense which the newspaper description of “jumping out of the car” tends to intensify.

The time of his descent was one minute and twenty-four seconds.

It is said, that to the spectators below, a white cloud seemed to fall. For a distance of seventy-five feet the parachute gave no signs of expansion, and it was feared that another death would be added to the roll of those who have made this perilous experiment. Then the umbrella-like mass spread and hung like a white dome over the aëronaut’s head.

It soon rolled in circles with a slight rocking and swaying motion from side to side, until at length Mr. Thomas S. Baldwin was landed, or rather watered, to a depth of only a few feet, apparently none the worse after a renewed acquaintance with his mother earth.

AN ENGLISHMAN’S PARACHUTE DESCENT IN 1839.

Mr. John Hampton, with whom I first ascended, came down three times in a newly constructed apparatus which was in many respects superior to the American’s. The upper part of Hampton’s parachute was, in all respects, in the form of an umbrella, having whalebone ribs, and a curtain besides, below the ribs, like the sunshades patronized by the ladies not long since.

Mr. Hampton determined, in the summer of 1839, to outstrip all competition by descending, after leaving the Montpelier Gardens, at Cheltenham, by stealth, in his balloon “Albion.” The fate of Mr. Cocking, and the censure which the proprietors of Vauxhall Gardens incurred, induced the owner of the Montpelier Gardens to withhold his consent to the experiment, but in order to carry out Mr. Hampton’s firm resolve and to gratify the curiosity of an immense number of spectators that were assembled upon that occasion, the manager agreed that the balloon and parachute should be exhibited, but on no account should ascend higher than sixty feet from the earth for fear of accident.

When Mr. Hampton had reached this altitude, he severed the rope which held his balloon, and the astonished spectators then beheld the intrepid aëronaut majestically sailing towards the clouds previous to his separation.

At two miles from the earth (let us say, rather, at a fair elevation), he determined upon cutting away; but previously, he opened his parachute by means of a small block and rope before he separated it from the balloon, and by adopting that plan made an easy and safe descent at Copperley.

His second attempt was from Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea, when he came down in fine style, and was conducted back to the Gardens, accompanied by an immense concourse of people, who were not sparing in their approbation of his daring exploit.

The third experiment was made from Bayswater, but the parachute caught on one of the trees in Kensington Gardens, and Mr. Hampton was thereby injured, but soon recovered.

He managed to split his balloon with a thin cord before casting loose, and altogether his plans were unique.

CHANNEL BALLOONING.

During the past six years some of our more daring aëronauts have embarked in a succession of voyages from Dover and Hythe to France and Flushing, with the idea, it would seem, of rivalling the memorable trip made by Mr. C. Green in company with Messrs. Holland and Monck Mason, who journeyed from Vauxhall Gardens, in the year 1836, to the Duchy of Nassau.

A recent ascent by Mr. Morton, who is called the Birmingham Aëronaut, has had newspaper laudation, but aëronautically speaking, it does not surpass or equal Mr. Joseph Simmonds’ journeys in length and risky surroundings, nor General Brine’s, and Mr. Dale’s performance, nor the late Colonel Burnaby’s ascent from Dover, which extended beyond Dieppe, and was made in Mr. Thomas Wright’s balloon. Mr. Morton’s trip is not equal to the preceding, though unexpectedly good in its way.

The laboured efforts and fatal results of some of the later attempts to cross over do not raise the estimation in which ballooning is held. They would have been better left alone. Many of the mishaps, and they have been frequent, point to perils which the old masters neither saw or complained about, whereas our modern heroes ought to be more expert.

We have also lately had a touch or two of what may be correctly styled _Bogus Ballooning_. I refer to more than one report about a cross-Channel run, which never took place, as I have ascertained after ample enquiry. However I am well aware that the press cannot always escape this sort of imposition being practised upon reporters who are not proof against a hoax. I remember that when Henson’s flying machine was completed, a morning newspaper of high standing contained thrilling details of a first flight, which was merely a flight of fancy after all, as the ponderous mass never budged an inch.

In a later volume of my experiences I shall have to notice, on arriving at the proper date, the impediments and drawbacks to the advancement of ballooning.

It is known to those who admire and aim at promoting this subject that a few would-be inventors and so-called scientific men, who trade and traffic in this and other cognate arts actually retard instead of furthering aërostatics, they hold out false hopes, hoist false colours, and deceive the very elect, the result being that aërostation is at a stand still, or, in fact, loses _caste_ to some extent.

Let us trust that these hints will lead to a new and brighter era, when military and meteorological ballooning will be further applied to useful objects, and that both combined, aided by sincere and competent abettors, will bring about the solution of aërial navigation.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

Perceived typographical errors have been corrected.

Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.

Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.

Some German words and phrases that are obviously misspelled have been retained as printed.

On page 31, it appears that a word is possibly missing in the sentence beginning ‘Somewhat lower down, at a hard where boats could be pulled up...’

On page 72, ‘1320 feet per second’ should be ‘1320 feet per minute.’