The Aeronauts by James Glaisher & Liz Bentley

Author:James Glaisher & Liz Bentley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2019-08-19T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER III

Ascents from Wolverhampton

August 18, 1862

The weather on this day was favourable; there was but little wind from the N.E. By noon the balloon was nearly inflated. As it merely swayed in the light wind, the instruments were fixed before starting, and at 1:02 p.m. and 38 seconds the spring catch was pulled, when for a moment the balloon remained motionless, and then rose slowly and steadily. In about ten minutes we passed into a magnificent cumulus cloud, and emerged from it into a clear space, with a beautiful deep blue sky, dotted with cirri, leaving beneath us an exceedingly beautiful mass of cumulus clouds, displaying a variety of magnificent lights and shades. Our direction was towards Birmingham, which came into view about 1:15 p.m.

When at the height of nearly 12,000 feet, with the temperature at 38°, or 30° less than on the ground, and the dew point at 26°, the valve was opened, and we descended to a little above 3,000 feet. The view became most glorious: very fine cumulus clouds were situated far below, and plains of clouds were visible to a great distance. Wolverhampton, beneath us, was sharp and well defined, appearing like a model. The clouds during this ascent were remarkable for their supreme beauty, presenting at times mountain scenes of endless variety and grandeur, and fine dome-like clouds dazzled and charmed the eye with alternations and brilliant effects of light and shade. The air on descending felt warm.

We were about midway between Wolverhampton and a town (Walsall) when the balloon slightly collapsed, causing it to descend a little, and the shouting of people was plainly heard, who expected the balloon would descend. At 1:48 p.m. sand was discharged, and a very gradual ascent took place, the direction being along the high road to Birmingham. On looking over the side of the car the shadow of the balloon on the clouds was observed to be surrounded by a kind of corona tinted by prismatic colours, and the rippling of the water on the edges of the canal could be seen very distinctly. We discharged sand several times to enable us to rise. The view continued very grand; a great mass of clouds was observed in the east, and a large town lay on our right. The balloon was again full. At 2:34 p.m. and 20 seconds and at 2:45 p.m. thunder was heard from below, but no cloud could be seen. At 2:54 p.m. my pulsations were 100, 107, and 110 successively in one minute. When at the height of 24,000 feet, at 2:59 p.m., a consultation took place as to the prudence of discharging more ballast, or retaining it so as to ensure a safe descent; ultimately it was decided not to ascend, as some clouds whose thickness we could not tell had to be passed through. At 3:03 p.m. it was difficult to obtain a deposit of dew on the hygrometer, and the working of the aspirator became troublesome. A sound like loud thunder was again heard at 3:13 p.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.