THREE BALLOON TRIPS.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 203, 14 May 1887, Page 2

THREE BALLOON TRIPS.

Having served my 'prenticeehip, and seen what most, if not all, other people's balloons were like, I determined upon becoming owner and captain of my own vessel. Accordingly I bought the good balloon " Eclipse/ of 2S,0()0 cubic feet, and set to work to fit her up after my own fashion. I engaged a professional to arrange the first start (at Aldeis-hot), and employed some soldiers of my company to assist at the inflation. But Mr Wright did not airive till the balloon was half full, and then in duty bound complained of everything', declared that it was all wrong, and that T must never again think of doing the^e things by myself ; in short, he would be nuibt happy (for a consideration) to come urn! ariangcitnll forme any day. However, the time for the accent ■was at hand. The balloon was full, and standing proudly under the lee of the gasworks, 1 got into the car with t\\ o friends, and two or three greatcoats ; a basket of lunch and sundry oilier necessary luxuries were piled upon us— out wont the ballast bags, till we ''lifted."' Up we u ent -- bump into a house. "Now, then, out with your ballast.' 1 The balloon bounded oft the horw. It noared a wall, and was e-sidently about to trj it*; against that structure. "Keep tight hold of the rope!" cried Wright fiom below: lute I thought otherwise, und deemed it best to postpone this trial of strength, so let go one end of the rope, and, juht clearing tlie wall, we soared up in line stylo. After an enjoyable voyage we determined to descend, came down with a good bump in one field, and bounding over a large hedge, in which the gtrapnel took a linn hold, landed softly in a gra^s field. A pack ot harriers' immediately surrounded v?, and looked rather surprised at the huge, blroug-*«inellin<» monster, while home rustics puzzled us with theiranxiousinquirie». " Had a accident ?" "No."' "Lost your wavY "No." "Then why did ye come down heie?" The balloon was soon packed up by willing hands, not without some merriment ; especially atter 1 had requested a small Loy to be so good as to get inside, winch he willingly endeavouied to do. Tho.-e only who have oxpeiieneed inlnling a good mouthful ot ga-> can appreciate the pooi lad's sensations We had a curious journey to the neatest station, eight inile> oil". One stout cob drew a cart containing us thiee the diixer, the balloon, and appaiatus — and tiotted thd whole way, and the man was delighted to recehe live shillings. Next time T went up I determined to manage the whole thing myself, assisted bv some of my men. We did not bump again m any houses or walls rhis time, although the day was, as my .vei^eant described it, \ery "blusterous.'' JiK->t as we were about to start, my companion's thoughtful servant pushed his way to the fore, and with teartul eyes requested that before we went off he might have his hook settled up. We shot away at lightning speed, and almost before we could look round we were a mile from our point of departure. But on getting up to about -1,000 feeb our pace became more moderate. We saw a curious phenomenon. It is not unusual to see the shadow of a balloon, with halo-bedecked car. on solid clouds, but on thib occasion it a\ as throw n on a thin mist between up and the ground. The result appeared like a huge shadow on the actual fields and woods below. The hills, geneia-Uy indistingiMshable from a balloon, *tood out clear h above the mist. We had an exciting descent. A " guideline," about 1,000 feet long, with a tlag at the bottom, told us thnt the wind below was blowing at a different late from what it was above. This line lias a curious appearance when looked on from above. It hangs quite straight for several hundied feet, find then bendnout, apparently almost at light angles. A •? we came down, the lower end of the guide-lino touched the ground; we went over some farm buildings the line dragging o\er the luofs. A large open piece of ground, seemingly half-.vmile aciots, lay before u> : beyond that several woods. Xow I had always leai ned from aeronauts, '• Whatever you do, avoid trees and woods ; come down in the open." Down \\ c came. We now saw that w e were driving- along- at a tremendous pace. This is a most alaiming sensation. You aie going along (perhaps .10 feet up) over the ground like an express tiain quite quiet and safe but you know that directly you touch, never mind how gently you descend, 3 r ou must get a tiemendous bump — like jumping out of a train at full speed. ALo, that the bottom of the car will be the first point to touch, and that the result will be that the car muj-t be \iolently up=efc. I throw out the grapnel — the bumpcomes, hard and cruel v/e are rolled over, car and all; bntwe hangon tight, neitherfocu^ isany the worse, and the balloon bounds upwards again. The grapnel gives a tremendous jerk and jumps off the ground, which is as hard as can be. It then bounds along, now and then catching for the moment, but only to communicate a good tug to the balloon. It is however a good test that the cable is all right. We can do nothing but hang on. I am hauling on to the valve-line hard, and with my arm round the car-line, so as not to be thrown out. Suddenly we dash right into the bushes of the wood ! We tear through them. The balloon seems like a maddened horse dashing on to destruction ; but the anchor cannot follow through the wood. It holds tight ; we are saie ! and a great feeling of relief comes over us. My companion gets out, and we try our best to tow the balloon out of the wood. But it won't move an inch ; the cable is like a bar of iron, so strong is the pull of the wind, which has increased greatly since our start. The grapnel is half buried in the bank in which it caught. With a sorrowful feeling I proceed to let all the gas out. People collect, the balloon is lying spread out on the tree tops ; how can it be got down '! A woodman is fetched, he makes sad havoc of the covert with his axe, and then altogether we forcibly drag- the poor aerial steed do\f n through the trees ; each tug must have caused him excruciating pain, the horrid branches and sticks tearing open his skin. He is laid on his car and solemnly -carried off. The day after a post-mortem examination is 1 held. He certainly has two very -bad wounds arid several small ones ; but two days' 1 work and' they are all neatly , sewn up and healed ; he is all the stronger. 1 found after the balloon liad "been packed up that my aneroid was gone. We searched aboi«t the wood in vain, but I left word that if found J would give a reward for it, with the result that more than a year after I was surprised to' receive, by post the instrument), somewhat the wot so for its long exposure: '•< < ' ■ ' My nex*t balloon trip 'was short', but ' gentle. > T*wo ' broths officers were to accQinpany me, bur, i\g pressure from , tlie -gas-works " was' s'u insuificicnt that bag after- '.bag- of ballast woh- put' out, but stflb we didn't rise. At last, 'with ballast reduped to pne^ma^ bag, we' ascended slowly. But we had not. gono far when the Eclipse ciemed to think she had had e»ough, and down she came again.

Ifc was no use. We could not attempt *a journey without any ballast at all, as it is most necessary to have plenty of sand ready to discharge, to avoid coming down in awkward places, &c. It came to a toss np, and our passenger got out. More b*l}ast was then shipped, and wo rose up-*' well. On reaching 4,000 feet the thermo- ' meter had fallel) twentiy d&gr6es,. although ! we were basking in, a Warm sun. At this height we could distinguish Southampton Water in the di&tance. We travelled very slowly, and after an hour and a quarter had only gone eight miles. I gained a curious bit of experience on coming down, due to the dead level at which all things appear to be when seen direct from above. Below us was apparently a flat common. Wo descended gently. I threw out the grapnel, Avhich began to drag through the bushes and furze. I then opened the valve to let out the gas, but, to my surprise, instead of our continuing to descend, 1 saw the anchor trailing al the end of the cable had suddenly left the ground ; and on \\o iloatcd, over some trees, in which the giapnel caught, and down we came, after making two or three shots for an open space, through the tree?, to the ground. I found afterwards that the cause of all tins was that the ground, instead of being leu-1, was hilly. The place Wheie ' we iiist touched was the top of a small hill, beyond which was a deep valley, over which, a-- it were, our grapnel jumped.