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128
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
64
them
to
think
of
returning
to
the
earth.
Judging
from
the
compass
that
they
were
not
far
from
the
town
of
Auxonne,
they
resolved
to
use
all
their
endeavours
to
reach
that
place.
The
sailing
appliances
had
been
considerably
damaged
by
the
rough
weather
at
starting.
The
rigging
being
disarranged,
one
of
the
oars
had
got
broken,
another
had
become
entangled
in
the
rigging,
so
that
there
remained
only
two
of
the
four
oars,
and
these,
being
on
the
same
side,
were
absolutely
useless
during
the
greatest
part
of
the
voyage.
The
adventurers,
however,
assert
that
they
made
them
work
from
eight
to
nine
minutes
with
the
greatest
ease,
making
use
of
them
to
tack
to
the
south-east.
“We
hoped
then
to
be
able
to
descend
near
where
we
judged
Auxonne
to
be,”
the
writer
continues,
“but
we
lost
much
gas
by
the
opening
in
the
balloon,
and
descended
more
rapidly
than
we
expected
or
wished.
We
looked
to
our
small
stock
of
ballast
with
anxiety,
but
there
was
no
need
of
it,
and
we
came
very
softly
down
upon
a
slope.”
When
the
aeronauts
arrived
at
Magny-les-Auxonne,
the
inhabitants
gazed
upon
them
in
terror,
and
two
men
and
three
women
fell
down
on
their
knees
before
them.
Here
is
an
extract
from
the
report
of
the
experiment
of
the
12th
of
June,
the
principal
object
of
which
was
the
attempt
to
discover
the
means
of
steering
in
a
certain
direction:--
“M.
de
Verley
and
myself
mounted
in
the
balloon,”
says
Guyton
de
Morveau,
“at
seven
o’clock.
We
rose
rapidly
and
in
an
almost
perpendicular
direction.
The
fall
of
the
mercury
in
the
barometer
was
scarcely
perceptible
when
the
dilation
of
the
hydrogen
gas
in
the
balloon
had
become
considerable.
The
globe
swelled
out,
and
a
light
vapour
around
the
mouth
announced
to
us
that
the
gas
was
commencing
to
escape
by
the
safety-valve.
We
assisted
its
escape
by
pulling
the
valve-string.
“Having
reduced
the
dilation
sufficiently
for
our
purposes,
we
resolved
to
attempt
the
working
of
the
balloon
before
the
whole
town
and
to
turn
it
from
the
east
to
the
north.
We
saw
with
pleasure
that
our
machinery
answered
By
the
working
of
the
helm,
the
prow
of
our
air-boat
was
turned
in
the
direction
we
desired.
The
oars,
working
only
on
one
side,
supported
the
helm,
and
altogether
we
got
on
as
we
wished.
We
described
a
curve,
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