descended by Day-light, so as to see & avoid falling among Trees or on
Houses, and that the Experiment was completed without any mischievous
Accident which the Novelty of it & the want of Experience might well
occasion. I am the more anxious for the Event, because I am not well
inform'd of the Means provided for letting themselves gently down, and
the Loss of these very ingenious Men would not only be a Discouragement
to the Progress of the Art, but be a sensible Loss to Science and
Society.
I shall inclose one of the Tickets of Admission, on which the Globe was
represented, as originally intended, but is altered by the Pen to show
its real State when it went off. When the Tickets were engraved, the
Car was to have been hung to the Neck of the Globe, as represented by a
little Drawing I have made in the Corner A. I suppose it may have been
an Apprehension of Danger in straining too much the Balloon or tearing
the Silk, that induc'd the Constructors to throw a Net over it, fix'd
to a Hoop which went round its Middle, and to hang the Car to that
Hoop, as you see in Fig. B.
Tuesday Morning, Dec. 2. I am reliev'd from my Anxiety, by hearing
that the Adventurers descended well near l'Isle Adam, before Sunset.
This Place is near 7 Leagues from Paris. Had the Wind blown fresh, they
might have gone much farther.
If I receive any farther Particulars of Importance I shall communicate
them hereafter.
With great Esteem, I am, Dear Sir,
Your most obedient
& most humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN
P. S. Tuesday Evening.
Since writing the above, I have receiv'd the printed Paper & the
Manuscript, containing some Particulars of the Experiment, which I
enclose.--I hear farther, that the Travellers had perfect Command of
their Carriage, descending as they pleas'd by letting some of the
inflammable Air escape, and rising again by discharging some Sand;
that they descended over a Field so low as to talk with Labourers in
passing and mounted again to pass a Hill. The little Balloon falling at
Vincennes, shows that mounting higher it met with a Current of Air in a
contrary Direction: An Observation that may be of use to future aerial
Voyagers.
Sir JOSEPH BANKS, Bar^t.
(SOME PARTICULARS OF THE SECOND VOYAGE.)
Mr. Le Chevalier de Cubière qui a suivi la marche du Globe est
arrivé chez M. Charles hier à 10 heures 1/4 du Soir et a dit, Que les
Voyageurs étoient descendus lentement et volontairement à trois heures
3/4 dans les Marais de Nesle et d'Hebouville, une lieue et demie après
l'Isle Adam. Ils y ont été accueillis par Mrs. le Duc de Chartre et
Fitz James, qui après les avoir embrassés, ont signé le Procès verbal
de lieu et d'heure. Beaucoup d'habitants de la campagne et le curé de
Nesle et d'Hebouville se sont aussi trouvés à leur arrivée.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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