BALLOONING IN A STORM.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2021, 24 January 1887, Page 4

BALLOONING IN A STORM.

The following is an account of a j peril us journey made for the purpose 1 •I scientific photography : \ b Professor Brooks and I left the * ground at Winstead in the brand-new j balloon at 12 56 pm., four minutes j before the advertised time for the ascension. We started thus early to avoid a heavy shower which was fast coming up in the south west. The start availed us nothin?. however, for by the time we had reached an altitude of 1800 feet the storm was upon us. The monstrous balloon whirled around and swayed about, and we were wet through by the driviug rain. Twenty pounds of sand were quickly thrown out. and wo shot up through the raincloud like an arrow. My companion smiled as we came into the sunshine above, and assured me that it was nothing but a little “flurry” liable to occur upon any trip. TV e could now look down upon our recent enemy with composure, and over the edge of a cloud to the north had a magnificent view of the earth thickly dotted with towns and villages, some near enough to be recognised, while others were so far away that the bouses looked like white dots upon the broad green fields. The various lakes, ponds and smaller bodies of water shone in the sunlight like silver shields. All sounds from the earth having ceased, we sailed silently along enjoying the wonderful panorama. Soon the smell of gas caused us to look up; the diminished pressure, due to the great elevation, bad caused the gas to expand to such an extent that it was passing out of (he opening at the bottom of the envelope at the rate of several hundred feet a minute. My associate quickly seized the valve rope and held the twelve-inch valve open about three seconds. This relieved the pressure upon the balloon and caused us to descend about a thousand ftet. The clouds were swiftly gatherii g from all directions, and to all appearances we were going to have a h* avv storm.

At my suggestion that wc drop down through the lower layer ofclouds and make a landing, mv mate turned to rue and put the question. “Are you afraid M ith my heart in mv throat I replied, ‘ Oh, no, I like it” While we were debating, we were steadily approaching an ominous black bank of clouds which was about 60U ft through upon the outer edge. These clouds were continually moving in and out, seething and boiling like the ocean in a storm, while cold winds swept altng their face, chilling us and causing the mercury to fall 20deg in as many seconds. Ihe professor remarked that he was not pleased with the appearance of things, and began to tumble the ballast overboard ; but in the occupation of giving me a fright he had delayed too long, for with a wlnn we were drawn into the blackwallcd thunder-head, into the darkness and storm. Now began a season of terror which can be but feebly described The rain was continuous, pouring in upon us from all sides, from above and beiuw, being forced about by the everci. n ging wind. Forked tongues of lmh>ning opened and lighted up great p i:s in liquid go am, each blinding li.i-h accompanied by sharp, deafening thunder winch reverberated through the dark mass with frightful distinctin ss. Overhead the monstrous balloon trembled, shivered, and anon shifted •Its position in the netting with a tearing sound, if possible, adding to our tern r. At times it stood still fora moment, then toppled over by an upper current it would swing away, swiftlv, dragging the car diagonally behind just as school boys play “snap the whip”— to be again twisted around and bought to a halt by a cross-current. This was indeed a most sickening experience. While the massive gasbag overhead Contained all of the lifting p over and struggled manfully to hold us up. it had no lateral st.HO.th; who:i a strong countermrr. struck it, over it would go uiitii it lay upon its >ide, with the cor is between the car and balloon J " r a moment sack : then the car Hiol gs 'ping occupants would drop the leogfi of the virus, straining the yielding willow of whuh the car was i -po'c-l t.» the last degree, and ,\iii gn.g the water irotn the cordage nh ch attached it to the bailoon. t fore we had knelt back to back, grasping opposite sides of the car, to preserve the equilibrium. Now upon fur ling around our eyes met: his t:u-e '.'as white. Hut not a word was spoken. Handing (he barometer to me he seized an open bag of ballast, weighing H'lib, and wi'h the valve cord tied ai- ~1 his arm, to prevent the wind fr to hj owing it out of his reach, i e st-o l nan -headed, with dishevelled hints atid set tee’h, looking in the lightning--.it scene the very picture of ••Kt-rui.: at i n I called ..*ut " ThreetHoitsci: 1 f*et ’ wc had entered toe t loud .a«>"i 1 above ti.c level of the seal , over went half flic ballast ! Despite the weight rf rain in the cordage hp began to ascend, and the baron etc- pointer sl ovly muted hi ut d to IDoAft, and stopped. I Dodl.d indicating that we were s’ationary, and ever went the other tv i ot toe ballast, bag and all. Again tl e unwieldy apparatus mounted up ti:, through the d snial storm until the pointer registered 4300 ft. Balla-t to the amount of cea-ly three bundled pounds «-a» th- hi cut, and an * t tude of G'dooft He- reached. Thus, after passing Uj , through flm tbuntier-cioiul, and running out of i ballast, there was hut one alternative I left—namely, to allow the balloon to ■ •ettle down through the storm, having ! neig it. 1/1 the shape of rain, added everv minute (eveyv .c.esh in the 11. t ting farmed .. iitt-e rcservoirfor holding water/. urn. take our chances of being dashed to piee< s up..-, the land or drowned in some small body of water. ! We feared, 100, that in again i tmieaug (ho thuader-cloudi, aad 1

running the terrible gauntlet of light-ning-flashes, the gas escaping from the balloon might be set on fire, and the perils of our already frightful situation reached their climax. The earth having been out of sight over half an hour, we had nut the remotest idea of our location. Already we were swiftly descending, and as the pointer upon the barometer began slowly to resolve backward, a sickening feeling overcame me. The awful silence was broken by the Professor, who asked—- “ How fast are we falling ?" After comparing the barometer and watch, I replied—- “ One hundred feet every' three seconds.” “And we have just started,' was his cheerful rejoinder. Every movable article in the car, ncept a few valuable instruments of hut little weight, was thrown overboard. With an appealing expression upon bis worn countenance, the professor turned to me, and asked, “Is there anything else we can throw out to lighten the load ?" As a shiprecked sailor, hopelessly lost, starved and thirsty, looks covetously upon the last drop of water, thus I. with equally greedy eyes, looked upon a pair of cow-hide boots which adorned the legs of my learned associate. But no 1 Banish the thought! I answered him “ Nothing!” We were falling 33ft per second, causing the cloth trimmings upon the sides of the carlo flap violently, and the resistance offered by the air forcing great hollows into the yielding cloth of the balloon overhead, the flabby and truuklike neck of which h’owly waved from side to side. As this neck rubbed with a grating noise against the varnished sides of the balloon, it seemed as if some huge elephant was accompanying us in onr nightmare descent to destruction.

Still there was no sense of falling. There was the certain information of the fact offered by the barometer, and we saw that the rain seemed stationary, but there was no dizzy sensation. Within three horrible minutes the earth was dimly seen through the rain. As it seemed to come swiftly towards us we became more fully impressed by our danger. It was frightful—awful. Now the wind changed, and instead of falling perpendicularly we took a diagonal course. My friend, ever full of ideas, brightened up and said eagerly, “ If this lower current of air holds steady and the entire apparatus can stand the strain of a strong anchor-hold, I think we can make a landing without getting killed.” Saying which he handed me the “rip-cord” with earnest instructions to take up all the slack and pull hard the instant he gave the order, while he carefully and skilfully recoiled the long anchor-rope, so that it should not become knotted and tangled at the last moment. Everything about the balloon, except the professor, was new ; it ought to stand the strain, there was a hope. I was anxious for the trial to take place, while he, although as thoroughly frightened as myself, had a better control over his feelings. Vve were now five hundred feet from the ground, and after passing like a shadow over a strip of woods, the heavy four-pronged steel grapnel, with its two hundred feet of untried one inch rope, was thrown out. We watched with bated hrea'h and feverish interest the result it iiist caught in a dump of alders, and r,s Hi 3 rope quickly tightened like awhile .rd, tiie bushes came out by the ro,n-, without having made a perceptible impression upon our progress. In an instant the grapnel had passed on twenty rods and caught a threeinch maple tree close to the ground. Thinking this would hold, my instructor called out, “ Kip it !” In an instant there was a hole II feet long in the balloon, and with a fearful crash the car struck the ground, stunning for a moment its occupants. But we had not yet finished our journey, for the grapnel, after bending the maple tree down to the ground and stripping it of every leaf and small limb, had let go. The balloon, being more than half full of gas, and assisted by the wind, lifted us clear of the ground, and, after going along at railroad speed tor an eighth of a mile, dropped us again We partly sailed and partly dragged in this manner for a long distance, grabbing frantically at evi rv bush and tree ■ within our reach. For an instant my ( companion would glance over the edge 1 and grab at the sir; then he would take his turn ai being walked upon in the bottom of the swift-revolving basket. A fter ploughing up the ground and levelling everything in »ur oath, we brought up against a post ard rail fence built upon a stone wall, a dozen or more lengths of which bowed out like a horse-shoe, but it held together, and we had landed alive. Crawling out through the slack ropes from under the ill smelling balloon, we threw our wet arms about each other's neck and wept. ] casually remarked, as we viewed the half acre of tangled balloon wreckage and various meteorological instruments scattered about, that my researches in the interest of science would hereafter he confined to lowm altitudes. 1 Thus terminated one of iho most dangerous trips ever taken. We were in the air flity-four minutes, during thirty-eight of which we were out of sight of the earth in th.-thunder-storm and had travelled m a roundabout course about seventy miles I did no» recover from my fright for days, and was !*.. !•••>»;tdv discouraged at (lie prosje cj a.vompiishing anything ip the line oi photography from a balloon.