The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 4, October 1837Various
History
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 4, October 1837
Various
Periodicals
E.
FATAL BALLOON ADVENTURE.
ASCENT AND FATAL DESCENT IN A PARACHUTE, OF MR. COCKING, OF ENGLAND.
PROBABLY since the melancholy result of Madame BLANCHARD's ascent in
a balloon, in France, no circumstance connected with these aërial
ships has created a more general and intense excitement, than the
awful termination of a recent adventure in the air by a Mr. COCKING,
of the metropolis. The London daily journals, and indeed periodicals
of every class, are rife with the thrilling particulars of the
catastrophe. We gladly avail ourselves of the kind courtesy of the
Editor of the '_Albion_,' to lay them, in a condensed form, before
our readers, accompanied with two engravings, explanatory of the
dreadful event. It should be premised, that the balloon is the same
in which the distinguished aëronaut, Mr. GREEN, accompanied by two
or three English gentleman, made the well-known night-ascension and
journey, which terminated at day-break the next morning in a German
province, several hundred miles from London.
The present ascent was made from Vauxhall Gardens, London, in the
presence of an immense concourse of people. The parachute was the
invention of the unfortunate man, whose coffin it finally proved,
and was of a novel construction, being in the form of an umbrella
reversed, the cavity containing the air being turned uppermost, to
prevent disastrous oscillation. It was constructed of fine Irish
linen, and was one hundred and seven feet in circumference. A car
of wicker-work was suspended to it, in which sat the ill-fated
victim, expressing confidence of success, but evincing, by restless
looks and a nervous manner, that it was a confidence which he did
not feel. Prior to the parachute being attached to the balloon, Mr.
GREEN caused a trial to be made with the view of ascertaining whether
the buoyancy of the latter was sufficient to carry up the former
with safety. The result of this trial, (after some arrangements
with respect to the ballast, of which he was compelled to give
out six hundred pounds, had been effected,) was satisfactory.
The abandonment of this large quantity of ballast he found to be
absolutely requisite, in order with safety to commence the ascent.
The balloon was then allowed gently to rise a sufficient height to
be conveyed over the parachute; and 'at twenty minutes before eight
o'clock, every thing being in readiness and the parachute attached to
the car of the balloon, the ascent took place. Nothing could be more
majestic. The weight and great extent of the parachute apparently
rendered the motion of the balloon more steady than on any former
ascent, and the almost total absence of wind assisted in keeping the
balloon in a perfectly perpendicular position. There was not the
slightest oscillation; the balloon and parachute sailed through the
air with a grandeur that exceeded any thing of the kind ever before
witnessed, and continued in sight for about ten minutes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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