Car and hoop of the Blanchard balloon, the first to cross the English Channel.
Count Zambeccari, an Italian, attempted to improve the de Rozier method of firing a balloon by substituting a large alcohol lamp for the wood fire. In the first two trial trips he fell into the sea, but was rescued. On the third trip his balloon was swept into a tree, and the overturned lamp set it on fire. To escape being burned, he threw himself from the balloon and was killed by the fall.
The year before these feats on the Continent two notable balloon ascensions had taken place in England. On August 27, 1784, an aeronaut by the name of Tytler made the first balloon voyage within the boundaries of Great Britain. His balloon was of linen and varnished, and the record of his ascension indicates that he used hydrogen gas to inflate it. He soared to a great height, and descended safely.
A few weeks later, the Italian aeronaut Lunardi made his first ascent from London. The spectacle drew the King and his councillors from their deliberations, and the balloon was watched until it disappeared. He landed in Standon, near Ware, where a stone was set to record the event. On October 12, he made his famous voyage from Edinburgh over the Firth of Forth to Ceres; a distance of 46 miles in 35 minutes, or at the rate of nearly 79 miles per hour; a speed rarely equalled by the swiftest railroad trains.
From this time on balloons multiplied rapidly and the ascents were too numerous for recording in these pages. The few which have been selected for mention are notable either for the great distances traversed, or for the speed with which the journeys were made. It should be borne in mind that the fastest method of land travel in the early part of the period covered was by stage coach; and the sailing ship was the only means of crossing the water. It is no wonder that often the people among whom the aeronauts landed on a balloon voyage refused to believe the statements made as to the distance they had come, and the marvellously short time it had taken. And even as compared with the most rapid transit of the present day, the speeds attained in many cases have never been equalled.
A remarkable English voyage was made in June, 1802, by the French aeronaut Garnerin and Captain Snowdon. They ascended from Chelsea Gardens and landed in Colchester, 60 miles distant, in 45 minutes: an average speed of 80 miles an hour.
On December 16, 1804, Garnerin ascended from the square in front of Notre Dame, Paris; passing over France and into Italy, sailing above St. Peter’s at Rome, and the Vatican, and descending into Lake Bracciano—a distance of 800 miles in 20 hours. This voyage was made as a part of the coronation ceremonies of Napoleon I. The balloon was afterwards hung up in a corridor of the Vatican.
On October 7, 1811, Sadler and Burcham voyaged from Birmingham to Boston (England), 112 miles in 1 hour 40 minutes, a speed of 67 miles per hour.
On November 17, 1836, Charles Green and Monck Mason started on a voyage in the great balloon of the Vauxhall Gardens. It was pear-shaped, 60 feet high and 50 feet in diameter, and held 85,000 cubic feet of gas. It was cut loose at half-past one in the afternoon, and in 3 hours had reached the English Channel, and in 1 hour more had crossed it, and was nearly over Calais. During the night it floated on over France in pitchy darkness and such intense cold that the oil was frozen. In the morning the aeronauts descended a few miles from Weilburg, in the Duchy of Nassau, having travelled about 500 miles in 18 hours. At that date, by the fastest coaches the trip would have consumed three days. The balloon was rechristened “The Great Balloon of Nassau” by the enthusiastic citizens of Weilburg.