The Risks of Balloon Ascents

New Zealand Tablet, 3 September 1908, Page 7

The Risks of Balloon Ascents

.cable^ message received- the- other ,.aay^slated^ that. ' Miss. Viola-" Spencer, a parachutist, ascended- at Ilkeston,' England) but tne . parachute proved undetachable, - and she-Av^as • compelled- to fetain her perilous seat all.night until, the .balloon dropped . near Leicester.' She neaVly perished -frorif- cpld» .. " " '~

. • Several -similar- misadventures have, occurred- since -the be- .. ginning-- of* the year.. . Early in June two- young women made a : h ascent- from Longton Park,- Staffordshire, their .object ' being, to 'make a 'clbuble^descent. " 11"1 1" "appears ■ that one"- of thejpara"rfmtes -became * entangled in the . cording .of the .balloon, which Quickly" ascended" to a height ot about two . miles. The girl • involved eventually made a daring,flying leap to her companion, and both -descended^ on the one parachute. - One of- them received serious injuries, ■%-. ._,c-- J ,: _;:> •-_ -- ". There .can be nVUw^TOnfons^as to the.,very graye- risks^ run by those who make •- A Japanese^ofnccr/, during' the siege ofePoft Arthur, volunteered-to obtain information -as to the enemy's strength by- a balloon ascent.^- .He was allowed . to do this) but he misjVdg'ed^the air currents; and instead:^*' "going 'over the besieged town drifted..out to sea. _v..Kven then "he might have been saved, but a storm"- came" on, darkness fell, and the 'daring soldier -^vanished.- . Eve^effort r was made. 4 or 1 learn, what became of .him— for, the officer was.a re l?! iv * ° { J he Imperial family— but all in^vain^arid his; ultimate -a mystery. ; -.- " r ,-- - - - . , :7 — ._.,-_•.__.. : -r>_- Considering how much the balloonist has -to rely upon the of the wind for guidance- and- speed,- k is astonishing •Cftjat aeronautics have, been - attended by., .so :few _and .^-rnysVeries. In the ballooning department " of "the -British Army >r fatal have been very rare indeed, and-one has to go -~back-to;-iS8i to find such a tragic episode as_ .that- furnished,, by -'the story of the ' Thrasher, or that of the Japanese officer.^ ~ Twenty-six years ago the War Office balloon Saladin was lost at:. .i-'se'&Z and to this day no one knows ".what actually .happened to.:: one, of the occupants of the car— Mr." Walter Powell, M.P. The,' ascended from Bath, carrying, in addition to Mr. Powell," "3fi\ Agg-Gardner and Captain — now 1 Colonel — Templar, a veteran.-^ T : aeVonaut who has had many exciting-experiences -Jri-the- air, and~ ~*~ =who made his first voyages in a balloon while still a schoolboy" "Harrow. His two companions were ■ also expert^:ball6onists.--sApjie.. three formed a jolly party, and had arranged to dine -with a: P&ftpti&d living .a few miles from the Devonshire coast. The baly~~&0Bz got into some nasty currents," however, -and| as 'the sea"!:was,. rySeert. to be near, a very rapid, descent was decided upon at^-Brid- .. Dorset. At the -firs,t" "bump "against the" earth "Colonel. called to the . other two ia jump. - He and Mr. Agg-; -i^G^rdner did so, the latter breaking his leg; but, for some reason yjthafifias . never been explained," Mr. Powell neglected to follow. 2§The- balloon, relieved of the weight pf_ two, men, shot to a«^^_ <3iprneWse height, and was carried out across the Channel, and"- ~- Mrl- thus vanished completely from the , ken- of men. • "Hundreds .of newspapers -have stated-'that no "trace- of it was* ever." • s.Cen:'.again,";-b^ut this is not so. Some years after, the awful, v'-event^a-'part "of the caf, with its lashings still "complete, -was ", found in a -mountainous district- of Spain, -and- afterwards ident. tified in: England. . - . Vf._ is^not^a^ little remarkable that, ''although scores of balloons i\Eave Jbeen'.'driven out to sea, peases in which this - misadventure has ended fatally are few. - More' than a century ago, when .-.Major Money made an ascent --from "NbrwtCh, fie was compelled "to descend in the sea, where he remained- for seven hours until his plight was seen and he. was a'«sTcued-by the. crew of -a. revenue cutter.. Some years later, in 1812, James Sadler narrowly drowning in' an attempt to cross the Irish Channel ; his_ bstlloon dropped into" the water_.some miles off Liverpool, and he z Avas'onZthe 'point of succumbing. when rescue came in the form of a fishing-boat. j - -.£ -~ * > ,i-.^ >.The attempt of Mr. .Wellrriair," the 'weh-knowli "Aeronaut and' explorer, to reach the North Pole with liis* airship America recalls ' the mysterious disappearance, of-'vHer.rr, Andrec,-- r --fhe Swedish--"explorer', who, just -ten years agof-^'jjJnished-Miito ' North, Pole " : ? sp'acisi' .- It was AndreVs in'te'ntibiV to-cross the North, Pole aiid - descend on -the opposite side, and on ' July n, .iß97;'"lie ascended _^with his two companions, StrindbergVajid". Frankel', from Danes pr^lsland, Spitzbergen. .One carrier -pigeon, "apparently liberated' : forty-eight hours -after- the start, was^. shot, , -and two ?. floating buoys with e messages were . ultimately fouriaV ..Nothing more, however, has been heard of the -explorersi S .