LOST WAR BALLOON.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11120, 20 July 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOST WAR BALLOON.

<♦ THREE DAYS MISSING. PICKED UP AT SEA. FATE OF TWO OFFICERS. LONDON, June I. ' The war balloon Thresher, which left Aldershot on Tuesday afternoon, m charge, of Lieutenant "W. T. M'Clintock Caulneld and Lieutenant T. E. Martin Leake, of the Royal Engineers, was found m the English Channel, with the car empty and half submerged, ten miles off Exmouth, by a trawler on Wednesday morning. : . The balloon was released m the presence of King Edward and Prince Fushimi, and should have descended a few hours later. For some reasons yet unexplained it was next reported drifting over Weymouth towards the sea about 8.30 on Tuesday night. -:. : ..'■';.. Nothing . more : was heard until the trawler Skylark brought the balloon, still partly inflated, into. Brixham Harbor on Wednesday. . , ; . " Both Lieutenants Caulneld and Martin Leake were experienced aeronauts. The former had made many ascents, and was on. board the Hon. C. S. Rolls' balloon Nebula, which finished third ihthe Aero Club's .race last Saturday. The ascent m the Thresher took place at A3O on. Tuesday afternoon from the military balloon factory .at Cove, near Aldershot. The Thresher is of ordinary size, and considered one of the best balloons at, the \depot.. , Prior to, tho ascent the King and Prince Fushimi ; chatted with the . young; officer's and; asked many questions regarding aerqhauticfl. Colonel Capper, the com- ! matidant of the balloon depot, supervised i the ascent. The wind, at the time was blowing at the rate of fifteen miles^ an hbur, and the balloon drifted away steadily m a westerly direction, being soon lost to view. GENERAL SEARCH. / No uneasiness was felt at Aldershot when, the officers failed . to , report Wednesday, m consequence of, the diffi-r culty pften experienced m: communicating froiri a remote landing place. ..- On, Wednesday evening, however, the military authorities requested the police at all points on the south coast to keep a sharp look-out for the balloon, arid coastguard stations were also notified. The first news came yesterday morning m the form of. a telegram from Exmouth, reporting that the balloon had been picked up at sea by the trawler ;Skylark. -V , * ;>. ■■■:"'.. : ••. * The balloon .was next reported from where is was observed about 8.30 on Tuesday night, travelling ; seawards at a. high fate of speed. ;The, wind had increasedand as the; balloon dropped, rapidly it appeared, that the pccupjihts' were trying to land. , . v;/ „ About a. mile beyond Chesil Beach the balloon Teached the, sea, the basket striking the water, arid then. rebounded into.the air and was .lost to viewY; r \ ■ The. coastguards at Abbotsbury, a village ten miles beyond -Weymouth, also obseyved; the balloon^. ; .:'/ ; ; In consequence of. , this information Lloyd's, at the request of the military authorities, asked captains of yesfiels.tp keep alpbk-but for the balloon. ;. : The : derelict^ balloon was . sighted on Wednesday morning by CaptattT John-, son, of the Skylark, while fising off Exmouth, and after some difficulty was seized/and taken to Brixham, where it was transferred to the custody of the Customs officials. The. contained, a milita,ry barometer, a . themqmeter, a: grapnel, arid: four sandbags. > , ,•:.., : The Skylark put to sea again immediately after landing the. balloon. . ; : \ ;. Lieptenant Martin . ;Le%ke, . who is twenty-eight years of age, joined tve -Royal Engineers m March, 1899. He was at Peking during the. jloxjr lebillion. He .was stationed at Aldershot for four months: .-. ; ! : .. . Lieutenant M'Clintock Caulfieldy is. twenty-seven years old, and joined .the Royal Engineers ( m August,: 1899^ ..-■ King Edward made early inquiries regarding the missing officers."/ ■■"." Mr-Frank Butler, the founder. of" the Aero Club, who made, an ascent .on Tuesday, jemairied m the . air for eight hours arid descended near Lewes. CHe said yesterday that the wind was not particularly strong., ... . ' Mr Butler expressed the belief yesterday that when the officers tried to. bring their balloon to earth, on nearing the sea, the valve. stuck. - "The war balloons have no ripping •cords,", he added, I'a.nd so they would be unable .to do anything. It is impos- • sible to climb up into the rigging m such a . balloon. With .a' ripping cord they might have been able to open a little of the balloon, as the cords are. made, to rip three, six,- or nine feet." ;.,.*■ ' 'Mr. Harold .Perrin, the secretary.' of the Aero ClubV said the only way ha could account for the accident was that the "aeronauts had gone up .to .a great Ueight, and when they came below the clouds again* they found themselves close to the sea, or well over it. 7 - Mr C. F. Pollock, also of _the Aero Club, said that as. soon , as a balloon .touched the sea the basketf would becoriie' waterlogged. . ' ; The . nien m the k?U<x>P ■ would probably cling to the/ edge, bui the deflating balloon, itself falling graaually into the sea, would offer but email support for the weight of the two men. -Mr Percival Spencer, of the wellknown firm of Spencer Brothers, aeronauts, declared that ■ the catastrophe showed a lamentable lack of knowledge of the art of ballooning, ,' . , "The ascent from Aldershot m the teeth of a strong east wind was unwise,'' he added. ' "The balloon would -rise rapidly and drift out to sea. . "In any case, the passengers ought to have made periodic descents below the clouds which obscured the view of land, and so have avoided all danger, "F should be sorry if people inferred from this disaster that ballooning is perilous. "lt is perfectly safe to. the; expert. I have never yet had trotible of this" kind, though I have crossed the Channel six times and the Irish Sea once./ - /■' . . .'■■-. •;' '■/■ ■ ' _'./"■■.."•' "When parachuting; m Japan on one occasion, hoyrever, I fell into the seaj while on another time T was; stranded m an Indian jungle; for three days." V