Proposed Atlantic Balloon Voyage.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 228, 28 September 1887, Page 5

Proposed Atlantic Balloon Voyage.

With reference to the intention of Captain Jovis, the well-known aeronaut, to cross the Atlantic in October in a balloon specially prepared for the venture, a Paris correspondent says:—"Captain Jovis considers October the most favourable month in the year for an attempt of the kind, but he has not yet determined whether he will start from America or Europe. Captain Jovie's ultimate decision will depend upon one or two points that are still being studied. lam also told on high authority that he hopes, if all goes well, to make the voyage in two days and a half. He will get into a favourable current and remain there as long as it lasts, instead of shifting interminably from one atmospheric stratum to another. The balloon in wnich the celebrated aeronaut will make the journey is composed of materials that have been three years in preparation. It is so constructed that, when distended by the rays of the sun, an outlet for the surplus gas will be found through a small \alve, which will cease to work as soon as the strain has been removed. The car, which can contain three persons, combines lightness witli strength ; and Captain Jovis has arranged a cleverly contrived apparatus which will enable him to supply himself, as occasion may require, with ballast from the briny wave. His projected voyage, which for boldness of conception and execution will be without a parallel in the annals of ballooning, will be watched with interest. Meanwhile, I hear that between this and August 10th Captain Jovis will endeavour to make an ascenb six miles high, taking with him a barometer, previously sealed, to show that no mistake can possibly have been made in the instrument's record of the feat."