But he came down too far away from them, and one and all continued their course and took no notice. He was obliged, therefore, to throw out ballast and to rise into the air once more. The sun was now set upon the level of the water, but as the brave aeronaut rose he beheld it once more above the horizon, and was cheered by its beams. Presently he saw beneath him three more vessels, which signalled their willingness to help him, and he immediately came down on the sea again as close to them as he could. But the wind, now rising fast, caught the half empty silk of the balloon as it touched the waves, and bore it along over the surface of the water at a terrific pace; and although the vessels came after in full pursuit, they were unable to overtake it.
Mr. Sadler then dropped his grappling-iron to act as a drag, and this not proving sufficient, took off his clothes and tied them to the iron as a further expedient. Still the vessels failed to overhaul him as he sped over the waves, and he was at length forced to let out a quantity of the gas still remaining, and so cripple the balloon. But this was a dangerous move, for the car now instantly sank; and the unfortunate man had to clutch the hoop and then the netting, to keep himself above water. Chilled and exhausted, and frequently plunged beneath the waves, he was soon at the point of death; for the nearest ship, though now close at hand, fearful of becoming entangled in the netting, still held off. Fainting as he was, Mr. Sadler yet managed to summon strength to call to the sailors to run their bowsprit through the balloon to stop its course, and this being done, he was hauled on board more dead than alive.
Five years passed, and no more attempts were made to cross the treacherous Irish Sea, until Mr. Sadler’s own son, Mr. Windham Sadler, determined himself to make the attempt which had so nearly cost his father his life. Choosing the same starting-ground for his venture, he left Dublin on the longest day of 1817, and, fortune favouring him, reached the Welsh coast not far from Holyhead, after a voyage of 70 miles, lasting five hours. This was the last attempt to cross the Irish Channel, until November 1902, when the Rev. J. M. Bacon and Mr. Percival Spencer, starting from Douglas, in the Isle of Man, landed in a rocky glen 15 miles beyond Dumfries, after a journey of 80 miles, accomplished in three hours. Brave Mr. Windham Sadler unhappily lost his life in a terrible balloon accident in 1824.
But a more celebrated balloonist, perhaps the most famous of all, had by this time come to the fore—Charles Green, fitly called “The Father of English Aeronautics.” It was he who first introduced a new method of balloon-filling, which quickly revolutionised the whole art and practice. This was nothing more or less than the employment of ordinary household or coal gas for inflation, in place of the costly and dangerous hydrogen.
While balloons were inflated only with pure hydrogen—for the uncertain and dangerous method of filling with hot air was soon almost entirely abandoned—no great strides could be made in the art of sailing the skies. The filling of a large balloon eighty years ago cost no less than £250, and few people could be found willing to provide so much money for such a purpose. Coal gas, however, was by then to be found in every town of any consequence; and it was Green’s suggestion that though this gas might be greatly inferior to pure hydrogen in buoyancy or “lifting power,” it yet contained a sufficient quantity of hydrogen in it for all ordinary aeronautical purposes.
The coronation of King George the Fourth was the occasion chosen by Green to put his new scheme to the test and fill a balloon with coal gas. The experiment was entirely successful, and henceforward balloon ascents became much commoner throughout the world, for Green’s discovery reduced the cost of filling tenfold, and the trouble and anxiety a hundredfold. Green himself became one of the most famous men of his day, and lived to make a thousand ascents, some of them of the most daring and exciting description.
The Great Nassau Balloon.
The most celebrated event in all his career, however, was the voyage of the Great Nassau Balloon, in November 1836. This voyage created a tremendous sensation at the time, and has always been considered one of the most adventurous enterprises in the whole history of aeronautics. How it came about was as follows:—
The managers of the Vauxhall Gardens, London, had made, with Mr. Green’s assistance, a very large and fine balloon of crimson silk, which stood eighty feet high and held 90,000 cubic feet of gas, and which would carry, if needed, more than twenty persons. After it was made the proprietors proposed exhibiting it in Paris, and there was some question of how this valuable and fragile property had best be conveyed so far. Mr. Hollond, a young gentleman of considerable wealth, and a great lover of adventure, at once came forward, and proposed to take the balloon to the Continent by sky. His offer was accepted, and to make the ascent more noteworthy, it was decided to start from London and cross the sea by night, making as long a voyage as possible, although it was already winter time, and such a venture had never before been made.