![Transcription Center logo](/themes/custom/tc_theme/assets/image/logo.png)
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE N.W. CORNER OF NASSAU AND FULTON STS. AERIAL NAVIGATION—BALLOONING TO EUROPE.—The experienced aeronaut, Mr. Wise, is making preparations to try a voyage to Europe in a monster balloon, with a view to solve the question whether the air is navigable. Such a project has been thought of for a long time, and if any one can accomplish it we think Wise is the man; for he has a large experience, having made some two hundred and fifty flights, and devoted almost as much time and attention to the theory of the air currents as Maury has to the tides and winds in connection with ocean navigation. Wise is an enthusiast, but his enthusiasm seems to have taken a practical direction. He has perfect confidence in the result of his experiments—not the least of which was his remarkable aerial voyage from St. Louis to Watertown, New York, in company with La Mountain—and is willing to venture on a transatlantic expedition, relying upon the correctness of his theory, that at certain altitudes the currents of the air run in certain directions with unerring accuracy, and that thus the globe may be circumnavigated by a balloon with as much ease as by a ship. This, of course, is a question the issue of which must be merely the solution of a scientific and geographical problem, like the Arctic expedition now in contemplation by Dr. Hayes to settle the location of the North Pole, and determine the existence of an open polar sea. The decision of either question may have no practical result; but if they are worth solving at all—and we conceive that they are—these expeditions should be sustained by the wealthy portion of the community, to whom a liberal contribution is a small matter compared with the satisfaction of seeing these interesting scientific subjects fairly tested. Mr. Wise is now engaged in making experimental trips and delivering lectures upon aerial navigation, for the purpose of raising funds to carry out his expedition to Europe—some six or seven thousand dollars being required for that purpose—and we hope that he will be furnished with means to make the attempt. We give an account, in another column, of his ascent from Palace Garden yesterday. The Smithsonian Institution will probably supply him with the necessary instruments to make his observations and experiments in upper air, or, if it does not, he will doubtless procure them by some means, and we may anticipate some very interesting additions to our knowledge of atmospheric phenomena and the rules which govern the air-currents. Should Mr. Wise succeed in travelling to Europe in two or three days, as he confidently expects to do, and should Dr. Hayes discover the open polar sea, about which he entertains no doubt, it will be a subject of much pride that these two scientific and geographical problems shall have been solved by Americans, and such results will be well worth the thirty or forty thousand dollars expended on the expeditions. They will both start probably about the same time, under the direction of men thoroughly experienced in the kind of work they are undertaking. Wise, as we have said, has devoted almost a lifetime to the mysteries of aerial navigation; Dr. Hayes was the companion of Kane in the last Grinnell expedition, and knows exactly the dangers to be encountered, and the course to be pursued in the accomplishment of his object. They are both prepared to start on their different expeditions full of pluck and confidence; and when we find men bold enough to run such risks for the sake of science and discovery, it is but right that they should be provided with the pecuniary means necessary to carry out their enterprises. Their success will undoubtedly redound greatly to the honor of the country. THE AERIAL TRIP Balloon Ascension of Professor John Wise from Palace Garden—Enthusiasm of the Multitude—Magnificent Spectacle. Fourteenth street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, and the entire locality of the neighborhood, for a little while yesterday afternoon, was in a fever of excitement over a balloon ascension from Palace Garden, by Professor John Wise, the celebrated aeronaut, whose name is familiar to most readers from his frequent connection with enterprises of this character, but more especially from the well nigh fatal attempt he made last year, in company with three other gentlemen, to cross our continent from St. Louis to New York. A more auspicious occasion for the purpose could not have been provided even by contract. The day itself was beautiful—the atmosphere clear, balmy and refreshing. No clouds loomed up in the distance behind which the aerial voyager was to be lost to view, and a gentle breeze from the southeast served to cool the warm rays of an almost summer sun, without promising an interference with the comfort or safety of the celestial vehicle and its precious freight. The streets were thronged with people, and for an hour previous to the time announced for the ascension it seemed as if the entire world of femininity were out on promenade, and converging from every quarter of the city towards the precincts of Palace Garden. Inside the enclosure, owing to the admission fee of twenty-five cents, the assembly was not particularly large, probably not exceeding seven or eight hundred in number; but without, where the crowd could get a curbstone view for nothing, it was immense. Above and below, from attic to cellar, every window contained its row of faces. Roofs were crowned with spectators, trees blossomed with little urchins, while the great family of Rahagge, Tahaigge and Bawbtayle, the high priestesses of Fifth avenue, and the low priestesses of the Bowery regions, including the nurses and children, crowded sidewalks, steps and balconies with true democratic independence. THE BALLOON. The balloon is the smallest of three which Professor Wise keeps constantly on hand for experimental and professional purposes, and is named "Ganymede," after one of the cup bearers of Jupiter—this small aerial steed bearing the similar relation of tender or subordinate to the great balloon Jupiter, in which the Professor performs his principal aerostatic exploits. On the opposite side is the motto in large letters, "Extra Flamentia Moenia Mundt"—which being interpreted menas "Beyond the flaming boundaries of the world." The diameter of the Ganymede is twenty-seven feet. It has the capacity for about ten thousand feet of gas, and possesses an ascensive power only of four or five hundred pounds, which is nearly counterbalanced by the weight of the material, cordage, baskets, ballast, individual and freight necessary for a voyage. The quality of ballast employed on the present occasion was between ninety and one hundred pounds, which, in the shape of sand, was contained in open bags, that it might be conveniently used as circumstances required. The basket is of the ordinary wicker work, and is three feet six inches in length by two feet six inches in breadth—apparently a small area for an individual to move around with any great facility, but one which, the Professor stated, is amply sufficient for all the present purposes of an aerial voyage. The grappling iron weighs fifteen pounds, and is a sort of multiplied fish hook, whose prongs, protruding in every direction, enable it readily to catch into anything with which it may come in contact, while the cord by which the balloon is anchored to trees, fences, chimneys, or anything else which affords a hold, is only of the size of a common clothes line. Being made of linen, however, it is said to be equal to all emergencies, and thus combines the essential advantages of lightness and strength. THE INFLATION. In order to facilitate this operation, a branch pipe had been laid connecting with the main in the street, and when our reporter arrived on the ground the neck of the balloon, which was elevated on a platform in the centre of the garden, was closely tied over a canvas tube, which in turn communicated with the pipe under ground, and through this the gas was rushing into the balloon in a six inch stream. At a distance of every five or six feet around its sides were bags weighing eighty pounds each, connected by hooks to the cords of the balloon, which served to hold the impatient courser in, restrain its occasional surges from side to side, and check its inclinations upward. THE ASCENSION. The hour announced for the ascension was four o'clock; and punctual to the moment the Professor mounted the platform, and stated that he was ready; but he expressed the desire that as a large number of people were coming into the garden, and by their "quarters" every moment helping to diminish his expenses, the audience should wait half an hour, and thus mutually reciprocate the good intentions of each towards the other. The audience was, fortunately, good natured, and, after a few complimentary sallies from the Professor, he put the question to a vote, which unanimously decided in his favor. A half hour was accordingly whiled away in watching the leviathan and listening to the music of the band. The time having elapsed, however, the aeronaut finally announced that he was ready for the trip. The platform was cleared of spectators, the gas shutoff, the weights detached from the sides of the balloon, the cords confided to the hands of a number of gentlemen, and the car was fastened and freighted. The gentlemen holding the cords now gradually came together, the balloon was allowed to rise to its full height, and Professor Wise, with the coolness of a veteran, took possession of the frail vehicle prepared for his reception. Lingering for a moment to adjust the ballast, secure his valve rope and impart a few instructions, the order, "Let Go," was given, the last cord that bound his airy steed to earth was severed, and amid the waving of hats, and the cheers and "God speeds" of the multitude, it rose slowly and majestically like a thing of life, and winged its way to the regions above. As the balloon cleared the surrounding buildings, Mr. Wise very composedly took his place on the edge of the basket, and in this somewhat perilous position, waving a small American flag, remained, until lost to view. Apropos to this little flag, the Professor informed our reporter that he had already taken it up one hundred and two times, (this is his three hundred and second ascension) and that, as he had never experienced an accident when he had it in his possession, though not superstitious, he was almost inclined to look upon it as a talisman against harm, and would not now on any account be without it. It is one of the few remnants of his trip from St. Louis. The balloon remained long in sight, and, for a few moments, looked in her graceful beauty, like a very "lord of the boundless realm;" but as she rose gradually upward, taking first a northeasterly and finally a due east course, she dwindled to a mere speck, and was soon lost to vision in the blue etherial sky. Mr. Wise landed on Long Island,then rose again, then came down in Long Island Sound, and after being pulled through the water towards Throgg's Neck, it is supposed reached there in safety. On Saturday, a pupil of Prof. Wise, named Augustus M. Conner, will make his first ascension in the same balloon, at the same hour and place. The Perils of Ballooning. Professor WISE, the aeronaut, attempted to make an ascension in his balloon at Wetumpka, Alabama, on the 3d instant, and narrowly escaped death. The balloon having been inflated, he stepped into the basket and gave the word to "let go" and was not obeyed, but immediately afterwards, when he was not ready, they did "let go," and the wind blowing from the west, the balloon, with lightning speed, was borne upwards, he swaying forward and back, with but one foot in the basket. It first struck a wood pile, then a fence, then the side of Coosa Hall kitchen, then the eaves of the kitchen, knocking off the shingles, and afterwards the eaves of the Coosa Hall, when it threw him some feet from the basket, and he dangled in the air holding mainly by his hands to the ropes. With great presence of mind, on arriving just over Coosa Hall, while some eight feet from the roof, he