Up in the Clouds: Balloon VoyagesBallantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
History
Up in the Clouds: Balloon Voyages
Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
Balloons
The Americans, with that vigour of conception and promptitude in action
for which they are celebrated, have done a good deal in the cause of
aerostation; but, as their doings and experiences have been in many
respects similar to those men whose voyages have been already recounted
or touched upon, it would involve too much repetition to detail them
here. Some of their attempts, however, have outshone those of the men
of the eastern hemisphere. For instance, Mr J. Wise, a noted aeronaut,
has several times exploded his balloons while in the air, to show that
the fragments with net-work form a sort of parachute which moderates the
descent. He also, with Mr La Mountain and others, accomplished in 1859
the longest flight on record, namely, 1150 miles in less than twenty
hours; and the latter gentleman did 300 miles in four hours in the same
year. Another American, Mr Lowe, made an enormous balloon, with which
he resolved to cross the Atlantic in about 48 hours. We await the
accomplishment of this feat with much solicitude!
In conclusion, we may say that the subject of aerostation is still in
its infancy, and that we have still to learn how to conduct ourselves
properly when--Up in the Clouds.
THE END.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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