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[[start left-hand column]] AERIAL VOYAGE ^[[June 1804 - handwritten in ink]] We have been favoured by Mr. Garnerin with the following particulars of his atmospheric journey. The morning of the 28th, although rainy, was not without favourable appearances. Mr. Garnerin made, in that hope, his chemical apparatus work for the extraction of the inflammable gas. The balloon was filled in regular time, though much tossed about by a very high wind. About one o'clock it was full, and ready to carry passengers and provisions. From one o'clock till half after four, the wind blew a hurricane. Had Mr. Garnerin been then happy enough to avail himself of former successes in this country, most likely he would with pleasure have acquiesced in the general and unamous solicitations of the brilliant assemblage of rank and fashion, who intreated him not to attempt his ascension in such boisterous weather, whose fury was less to be apprehended at the moment of leaving the earth than at the time of landing. Induced by such powerful considerations, Mr. Garnerin urged Captain Sowden, his travelling companion, to desist from his intended journey, as he conceived it was his duty to run alone the dangers of the day, since nothing but mere curiosity could have induced him to undertake this perilous excursion. Captain Sowden, notwithstanding Mr. Garnerin's representations and entreaties, listened to his courage only, which triumphed over the arduous trial he had to encounter. From half after four till five a few showers of rain fell, and calmed for a few moments only the violence of the wind, which afterwards raged with increased fury. At five precisely, the travellers mounted the aërial car; each of them unfurled and waved the colours of their respective nations, which they re-united, as a symbol of alliance and amity. The Balloon having been conducted round the ring, the travellers, placed in the car, took their leave among the plaudits and anxious good wishes of the surrounding company, and sprung majestically towards the celestial regions where the raging winds seemed to be the rulers. The inhabitants of London had then an opportunity of feeling the standards of all nations with which the Balloon was dressed rising proudly from the borders of the Thames, and losing themselves in the immensity of space, and in the same manner as they were seen on the 18th Brumaire (9th of November) springing from the very bosom of the Seine, at Paris. At the moment of departure, the balloon directed its course across St. James's Park, and went over the river between Westminster and Blackfriar's bridge.- Perceiving then that the aërostatic vehicle was descending, Mr. Garnerin threw out some ballast; he then rose much above St. Paul's, whence the travellers had an opportunity of viewing at one sight the city of London and its suburbs. Mr. Garnerin and Mr. Sowden felt quite chilly. London soon disappeared by crossing a cloud, which being surmounted, made them likewise lose sight of the earth. The temperature was milder. The inflammable air began then to dilate; and the aëronauts provided the means of safety by procuring every necessary emission of air. Dinner was then introduced and eaten with pleasure and appetite; at dessert, Mr. Garnerin informed Capt. Sowden that their journey was drawing to a conclusion, and it was necessary to prepare for a descent extremely hazardous, on account of the excessive violence of the wind, which was likely to precipitate the travellers and the machine on the trees, on the hedges, on the houses, and, in fact, on every thing that would obstruct their passage. The travellers had been exploring the atmosphere upwards of half an hour only, and having no idea of being at such a distance, thought it nevertheless expedient to come down. Mr. Garnerin opened the [[italics]] soupape [[/italics]] or aperture of his balloon, to cross again the same cold and dark clouds already mentioned. The earth became visable as well as the sea, which they saw very close, an arm of which they even crossed. The anchor and cordage were ready for landing; the fury of the wind made the balloon bounce from place to place as it grounded and dragged the travellers, through fields, trees, and bushes, by which their hands were severely torn. The anchor now and then caught the ground, and fastened at last to a hedge near a house, whose inhabitants, frightened at the sight of the aërial machine, not only declined to give assistance, but actually offered to fire on the voyagers. At this juncture, the rope that fastened to the anchor broke, and the machine was carried with additional violence against a tree, by which Mr. Sowden received a severe blow to the head. The balloon, however, having been torn in the lower part; both the cords and netting of the railing of the car broke, and the tree they were strongly clasping, but with the assistance of a new though last exertion, the Aërials had an opportunity of leaving the car and balloon, which fell upwards of 200 yards further. Mr. Garnerin and Capt. Sowden were then four miles beyond Colchester; they went over Epping Forest, &c, and performed this long and arduous journey, in the short space of three quarters of an hour. Mr. Garnerin mentions in the handsomest terms the courage Captain Sowden evinced in this new instance, and with peculiar expressions of gratitude and acknowledgements of the perseverance with which he voluntarily shared the dangers attending their landing, as he could several times have extricated himself from the car, which he never thought of leaving without his pilot. He has unfortunately received some contusions; but they are of no consequence. The remains of the Balloon are now exhibiting in the Pantheon, with the Aërostat and Parachute, with which Mr. Garnerin is to make his new experiment at Lord's Cricket Ground next Saturday, if the weather permits. [[end column]] [[start centre column]] [[start clipping 1 of 4]] Balloon.- On the 23d May, Madame GARNERIN, with a Russian Lady, ascended in a balloon at Moscow. These Ladies did not desist from their bold enterprise, though at the instant a thunder storm, with hail and lightning made it very hazardous. A quarter before eight o'clock in the evening, they ascended 5,500 feet. They heard in the air thundering every where round them, and felt the effect of the electric fluid in the atmosphere, which was full of clouds and rain, and agitated by wind. They descended twenty werstes from Moscow, not without great danger; the Russian Lady received a severe contusion, by coming up against a tree. As the balloon was become very heavy from the rain, the female aeronauts had been obliged to throw away all their instruments, even the parachute, and when they touched the ground, only ten pounds of ballast remained. ^[[July 2, 1804 - handwritten in ink]] [[end clipping]] [[start clipping 2 of 4]] The aeronaut Garnerin has arrived at Franckfort, from St. Petersburgh, on his way to Paris. He has been forced to postpone his journey to Constantinople, for want of money, having imprudently lost in gambling every thing that he had gained in Russia. It is [[obscured by stamp??]] Madame Garnerin has demanded an act of [[obscured by stamp??]] from an indiscreet husband, who in four years [[obscured by stamp??]] and lost three fortunes. ^[[Oct 1804 - handwritten in ink]] [[Franking mark for threepence halfpenny]] [[end clipping]] [[start clipping 3 of 4]] Madame Garnerin has returned from St. Petersburgh. During a stay of twelve months in the Russian empire, she and her husband have made 50,000 roubles, 8,000l. which she has carried back to Paris with her in good Bills of Exchange. M. GARNERIN is on his way to Constantinople, where he hopes to make a still greater sum. ^[[1804 -handwritten in ink]] [[end clipping]] [[start clipping 4 of 4]] Second Ascension by Night of M. Garnerin ^[[1807 - handwritten in ink]] My second aerial journey by night will not afford an opportunity for the brilliant narratives which I have had the occasion to make in the course of my 40 preceding ascensions. I shall not have to describe the majestic appearances which nature continually offers to the eyes of an aëronaut who ascends in favourable weather. I can only give a narrative of an aërial tempest, which was nigh terminating in a shipwreck. The obstacles which the wind caused to the inflation of the balloon sufficiently apprised me of the approach of the storm; and to the difficulties of the weather was added the turbulence of a party, by which I was prevented from placing the cord of the valve, so as to regulate the tube, which, in case of expansion, was to conduct the gas into a direction different from the lights which surrounded the bottom of the balloon. I was to have been accompanied by M. De Chassenton, but the aërial storm, which continually increased until the moment of my departure, gave me reason to apprehend such a disaster as Mr. Blanchard and another aeronaut, met with in Holland. M. De Chassenton was actually in the boat. I must bear witness to his determination; for I am convinced that nothing could have made this young man, remarkable for his merit, quit the boat, if the well grounded apprehension which I entertained, of seeing him exposed to certain destruction, had not suggested to me the idea of declaring to him, that the balloon was not capable of carrying up two persons. It was thus in the most adverse weather and exposed to the greatest opposition and the tumult of a cabal, the head of which it is easy to guess at, that I ascended from Tivoli, at half past 10 o'clock on the night of the [[underlined]] 21st of September [[/underlined]]. An unexampled rapidity of ascension, but extremely necessary to prevent me from coming in contact with the adjoining houses, raised me above the clouds, and in a few minutes carried me to an immense height, the extent of which I cannot precisely ascertain, on account of the dangers and embarrassments which suddenly affected my imagination, and prevented me from observing the declension of the mercury in the barometer. Elevated in an instant to the frozen regions, the balloon became subject to a degree of expansion which inspired me with the greatest aprehension. There was no alternative between certain death and giving an instant vent to the gas; and this at risk of seeing the balloon take fire. I gradually opened with one hand an orifice of about two feet diameter, by which the gas escaped in large volumes, while, with the other, I extinguished as many lights as I could. During this effort I several times was near overbalancing myself and falling out of the boat. [[end clipping]] [[end column]] [[start right-hand column]] [[start clipping 1 of 5]] Deprived of the opportunity of regulating the valve, my balloon, like a ship without a rudder, floated in air, obeying the influence of the temperature, the winds, and the rain. Whenever the force of these made me descend, the storm, which kept still increasing, obliged me to throw out ballast for the purpose of avoiding it, and escaping from imminent shipwreck. At length, at four o'clock in the morning, after having been almost continually enveloped in thick clouds, through which I could seldom see the moon, all my means of supporting myself in the air were exhausted. Whatever skill I possessed was no longer of use to me. My boat several times struck against the ground and rebounded from thence. The tempest often drove me against the sides and tops of mountains. Whenever my anchor caught in a tree, the balloon was so violently agitated by the wind, that I experienced all the inconvenience of a violent sea-sickness. Plunged at one time to the bottom of a precipice, in an instant after I ascended, and acquired a new elevation. The violence of the concussions exhausted my strength, and I lay for a half hour in the boat in a state of insensibility. During this tempest I recovered; I perceived Mont Tonnerre, and it was in the midst of crashes of thunder, and at a moment which I supposed would be my last, that I planted upon this celebrated mountain the Eagle of Napoleon joined to that of Alexander. I was carried away for some time longer by gusts of wind, but fortunately some peasants came to my assistance at the moment that the anchor hooked in a tree. They took hold of the cords which hung from the balloon, and landed me in a forest upon the side of a mountain, at half past five in the morning, seven hours and a half after my departure, and more than 100 leagues distant from Paris. They took me to Clausen, in the canton of Waldfischbach, and department of Mont Tonnerre M. Cesar, a man of information, and Mayor of the neighbouring town, came and offered me every assistance in his power, and at my request drew up a narrative, of which he gave me a copy. I was splendidly entertained the next day at Deux Ponts by a Society of Friends of the Arts, consisting of Public Functionaries, the Officers of the 12th Regiment of Cuirassiers, and of the Members of the Lodge of Freemasons. GARNERIN. [[end clipping]] [[start clipping 2 of 5]] Garnerin, who ascended in a balloon from the Gardens of Tivoli, at Paris, on the [[underline]] 5th instant [[/underline]], at eleven o'clock at night, descended the next day at half past six in the morning, on the banks of the little river Wesle, near Chamerlois, five leagues from Rheims, having passed through a space of 45 leagues (French) in seven hours and a half. Garnerin was to undertake another aërial voyage from the Gardens of Tivoli, on the 18th of this month, accompanied by his wife. ^[[augt 1807 - handwritten in ink] [[end clipping]] [[start clipping 3 of 5]] M. GARNERIN. - The following particulars of M. Garnerin's last ascent, near Paris, is copied from a French Paper:- His balloon, after having been tossed in the air by the rapid changes of the wind, at last made a direct ascent of 3000 toises, and encountered a very humid cloud, which he hastened to quit, as he felt the cold insupportable, and his lights threatened to go out. Having rowed about for some time without knowing where he was, he descended just at day-break to within 300 toises of the earth. Having perceived some reapers who were not afraid of his approach, he inquired of them, and learned that he was near Saon, the capital of Aishe. The desire he had of making some observations, determined him to continue his aerial voyage. He therefore reascended to a greater height than before, and there the temperature was eight degrees above 0; this he abandoned immediately for fear of being affected by the too rapid transition from heat to cold. He reports having seen in that elevated region many meteors, from which he took care to preserve a respectful distance. Cournielòissur [[Vesle?]], where he descended at about six in the morning, is a village of the department of the Maine, five leagues beyond Rheims, and 15 from Paris. ^[[Aug. 30. 1807 - handwritten in ink]] [[end clipping]] [[start clipping 4 of 5]] [[italics]] A Nocturnal Balloon [[/italics]].- Garnerin has made a new and beautiful use of the Balloon at Paris. He mounted from the gardens of Tivoli at night, in a balloon illuminated with 120 lamps. He mounted from the gardens at 11 o'clock on a very dark night, under Russian colors, as a sign of peace. When floating high in the air, above the multitude of admiring spectators, a flight of sky-rockets were discharged at him, which, he says, broke into sparks, hardly rising to his vision from the earth; and Paris, with all its blaze of reflecting lamps, appeared to him but like a spot - like the Pleiades, for instance, to the naked eye. He gained an elevation, he says, of 3000 toises, and speaks with enthusiasm of his seeing the sun rise at that height. After a flight of seven hours and a half, he descended near Reims, 45 leagues from Paris. ^[[Oct 6. 1807 -handwritten in ink]] [[end clipping]] [[start clipping 5 of 5]] ^[[Oct. 15. 1807 - handwritten in ink]] GARNERIN, in his second aerial voyage, by night, which took place at Tivoli, at half past ten on the 21st ult. experienced a dreadful storm, and the tempest frequently drove him against the sides and tops of mountains. After experiencing a variety of disasters, in the midst of crashes of thunder, and lying half an hour in the boat in a state of insensibility, the balloon at length lodged upon Mount Tonnerre, where, with the assistance of some peasants, he landed in a forest at the side of the mountain, at half past five in the morning, having gone one hundred leagues (French) in seven hours and a half. 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