Exciting Experiences.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 218, 3 September 1887, Page 3

Exciting Experiences.

Sttbjoinkd is Mr Joseph Simmon's " log" of his balloon voyage across the Irish Soa from Preston :— ll a.m.— Started at the moment, announced by the Mayor of Preston. 11.5. — Find it impossible to land in England, east wind taking me over the iivor kibble. 11.25. — Midway between Lytham and Southport. 11.30.— Considering rather gravely of the fact that I am not provided with anything as a means of keeping atloat if I have to come down on the sen. I have with me the hose with which I inflated the balloon. This is 18ft. long. I out it into four, then tie up one end of each piece, blow it full of air, then tie up the othor end. I think, if the pieces are not sufficiently air-tight, I can keep blowing into one or another and so keep up a supply of air sufficient to float me by those roughly improvised 'buoys.' Up to 12.30 very few vessels seen, and 1 do not feel as much tempted to go down and attempt to be rescued as I do to try and cross the sea. Pluck is all very v. ell in its way, but I am to a great extent foiced into the position I now occupy. The baloon is a very small one (it contains when quito full only 11,000 feet of gas) and much manoeuvring will bo necessary to go so long a distance with so small an aerostat and'so slight a breeze. Up to 1.50 I endeavour to console myself by watching the courses of vessels, and as nearly as possible convincing myself that 1 v. as going on a ' true wind ' that is to say, there were no cross currents to contend with. I begin to get very sleepy. 1 cannot attribute this to any inhaling of gas, for none has yet escaped through the neck of the balloon. 2 p.m. — Two vessels nearly under me. heading same way as I am. I should like to leave them behind me quicker. Am % cry thirsty. Have not tasted anything to drink to-day, and only -about half an ounce of food. Not a bit or drop of anything with me. I cannot see far ; but I manage pretty continually to compare the sun's rays on the sea with my course, and as the day advances it is with considerable satisfaction 1 llnd the acuteness of the angle between my coulee and the sun's rays increase, for it partially convinces me that I continue to go west. The ripples on the sea provide me with a further means of ascertaining tbib fact. 2.35 p.m.— l see land, which 1 take to be Anglesea. 2.50 p.m - A steamer heading due west. I think -he is going from Holyhead to Dublin. I had passed Holyhead before she started ; but I manage to keep my gaze on her, and this is a good check. The coast of Carnarvon now very distinct, and so is Baid.^ey Island. 1 have another good check by watching two fixed points on the coast. 1 am going in a straight line. 3.12.— 1 begin to wish I had forced another 1,000 feet of gas into the balloon, for I started with it not quite full to allow for expin^ion while ascending. At this time 1 M.c something in the west which has a very lke.l appearance ; but clouds have that, and Iw ah too soon expecting land. 3. 16.— The steamer which I said I thought was from Holyhead, still light in my course behind me. 3.24. — She appears to be going away south, but this must be fancy. I find her again .straight for me and Dublin. 4.34. — A Steamer three miles south of me going ea->t. I suppose from Dublin to Holyho/id. 4.30. — I dimly trace what 1 tike to bo the bouth shore of Dublin Bay. beveial black specks right in the sun's golden rays on the sea. 5.10. — I hear several voices from the deep. Up to this time 1 have many time* shouted to vessels, nearly under me ; but the only responses I got were repetitions oi my own words (echoes). For the last hour I have continually heard the rumbling of the tide on the shore, and it is with intense satisfaction that I hear it increase and see it increase moment by moment. 5.50 p.m. — Can see a train going, as I suppose, from Kingstown to Dublin. o.oS. — Right over the bay, between Kingstown and Dublin. 6.50. — Safe in the hands of a labourer on the farm of Messrs Fagan Brothers, at Ballyboden, Rathfarnham, seven miles inland from Dublin. After packing up the balloon I proceeded with Mr S. M. Holmes, to his residence, Rookwood (close by), where I eagerly ate a good dinner, and here I am on board the steamer Express, bound for Liverpool. To describe the grandeur of the icene on approaching the land on the hish coast is more than I dare attempt."