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128
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
108
Dublin
and
Holyhead,
lost
his
life
miserably
near
Bolton,
on
the
28th
of
September,
1824.
Deprived
of
his
ballast,
in
consequence
of
his
long
sojourn
in
the
air,
and
forced
at
last
to
descend,
at
a
late
hour,
upon
a
number
of
high
buildings,
the
wind
drove
him
violently
against
a
chimney.
The
force
of
the
shock
threw
him
out
of
his
car,
and
he
fell
to
the
earth
and
died.
His
prudence
and
knowledge
were
unquestionable,
and
his
death
is
to
be
ascribed
alone
to
accident.
It
was
an
aerial
shipwreck.
Cocking
had
gone
up
twice
in
Mr.
Green’s
balloon
as
a
simple
amateur.
He
took
it
into
his
head
to
go
up
a
third
time.
He
wished
to
attempt
a
descent
in
a
parachute
of
his
own
construction,
which
he
believed
was
vastly
superior
to
the
ordinary
one.
He
altered
the
form
altogether,
though
that
form
had
been
proved
to
be
satisfactory.
In
place
of
a
concave
surface,
supporting
itself
on
a
volume
of
air,
Cocking
used
an
inverted
cone,
of
an
elaborate
construction,
which,
instead
of
supporting
him
in
the
air,
only
accelerated
his
fall.
Unhappily,
Green
participated
in
this
experiment.
The
two
made
an
ascent
from
Vauxhall,
on
the
27th
of
September,
1836,
Green
having
suspended
Cocking’s
wretched
contrivance
from
the
car
of
his
balloon.
Cocking
held
on
by
a
rope,
and
at
the
height
of
from
1,000
to
1,200
feet
the
amateur,
with
his
patent
parachute,
were
thrown
off
from
the
balloon.
A
moment
afterwards
Green
was
soaring
away
safely
in
his
machine,
but
Cocking
was
launched
into
eternity.
“The
descent
was
so
rapid,”
says
one
who
witnessed
it,
“that
the
mean
rate
of
the
fall
was
not
less
than
twenty
yards
a
second.
In
less
than
a
minute
and
a
half
the
unfortunate
aeronaut
was
thrown
to
the
earth,
and
killed
by
the
fall.”
Madame
Blanchard,
thinking
to
improve
upon
Garnerin,
who
had
decorated
the
balloon
which
ascended
in
celebration
of
the
coronation
of
Napoleon
I.
with
coloured
lights,
fixed
fireworks
instead
to
hers.
A
wire
rope
ten
yards
long
was
suspended
to
her
car;
at
the
bottom
of
this
wire
rope
was
suspended
a
broad
disc
of
wood,
around
which
the
fireworks
were
ranged.
These
consisted
of
Bengal
and
coloured
lights.
On
the
6th
of
July,
1819,
there
was
a
great
fete
at
Tivoli,
and
a
multitude
had
assembled
around
the
balloon
of
Madame
Blanchard.
Cannon
gave
the
signal
of
departure,
and
soon
the
fireworks
began
to
show
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