75 m. distant. This was the first balloon that crossed the Channel. The first person who rose into the air from British ground appears to have been J. Tytler,[1] who ascended from the Comely Gardens, Edinburgh, on the 27th of August 1784, in a fire-balloon of his own construction. He descended on the road to Restalrig, about half a mile from the place where he rose.
But it was Vincent Lunardi who practically introduced aerostation into Great Britain. Although Tytler had the precedence by a few days still his attempts and partial success were all but unknown; whereas Lunardi’s experiments excited an enormous amount of enthusiasm in London. He was secretary to 
Fig. 4.—Lunardi’s Balloon.Prince Caramanico, the Neapolitan ambassador, and his published letters to his guardian, the chevalier Compagni, written while he was carrying out his project, and detailing all the difficulties, &c., he met with as they occurred, give an interesting and vivid account of the whole matter. His balloon was 33 ft. in circumference (fig. 4), and was exposed to the public view at the Lyceum in the Strand, where it was visited by upwards of 20,000 people. He originally intended to ascend from Chelsea Hospital, but the conduct of a crowd at a garden at Chelsea, which destroyed the fire-balloon of a Frenchman named de Moret, who announced an ascent on the 11th of August, but was unable to keep his word, led to the withdrawal of the leave that had been granted. Ultimately he was permitted to ascend from the Artillery ground, and on the 15th of September 1784 the inflation with hydrogen gas took place. It was intended that an English gentleman named Biggin should accompany Lunardi; but the crowd becoming impatient, the latter judged it prudent to ascend with the balloon only partially full rather than risk a longer delay, and accordingly Mr Biggin was obliged to leave the car. Lunardi therefore ascended alone, in presence of the prince of Wales and an enormous crowd of spectators. He took up with him a pigeon, a dog and a cat, and the balloon was provided with oars, by means of which he hoped to raise or lower it at pleasure. Shortly after starting the pigeon escaped, and one of the oars became broken and fell to the ground. In about an hour and a half he descended at South Mimms, in Hertfordshire, and landed the cat, which had suffered from the cold: he then ascended again, and descended, after the lapse of about three-quarters of an hour, at Standon, near Ware, where he had great difficulty in inducing the peasants to come to his assistance; but at length a young woman, taking hold of one of the cords, urged the men to follow her example, which they then did. The excitement caused by this ascent was immense, and Lunardi at once became the star of the hour. He was presented to the king, and was courted and flattered on all sides. To show the enthusiasm displayed by the people during his ascent, he tells himself, in his sixth letter, how a lady, mistaking the oar which fell for himself, was so affected by his supposed destruction that she died in a few days; but, on the other hand, he says he was told by the judges “that he had certainly saved the life of a young man who might possibly be reformed, and be to the public a compensation for the death of the lady”; for the jury were deliberating on the fate of a criminal, whom they must ultimately have condemned, when the balloon appeared, and to save time they gave a verdict of acquittal, and the whole court came out to view the balloon. The king also was in conference with his ministers; but on hearing that the balloon was passing, he broke up the discussion, and with them watched the balloon through telescopes. The balloon was afterwards exhibited in the Pantheon. In the latter part of the following year (1785) Lunardi made several successful ascents from Kelso, Edinburgh and Glasgow (in one of which he traversed a distance of 110 m.); these he described in a second series of letters. The first ascent from Ireland was made on the 19th of January 1785 by a Mr Crosbie, who on the following 19th of July attempted to cross St George’s Channel to England but fell into the sea. The second person who ascended from Ireland was Richard Maguire. Mr Crosbie had inflated his balloon on the 12th of May 1785, but it was unable to take him up. Maguire in these circumstances offered himself as a substitute, and his offer being accepted he made the ascent. For this he was knighted by the Lord-Lieutenant. Another attempt to cross St George’s Channel was made by James Sadler on the 1st of October 1812, and he had nearly succeeded when in consequence of a change of wind he was forced to descend into the sea off Liverpool, whence he was rescued by a fishing-boat. But on the 22nd of July 1817 his second son, Windham Sadler, succeeded in crossing from Dublin to Holyhead.
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| Fig. 5.—Blanchard’s Balloon. |
| A, Balloon of taffeta, 26 ft. in diameter, covered with a net. B, Car suspended by cords from hoop C. D,D,D,D, Wings worked by rack-work E. F, Parachute to break the force of descent should the balloon burst. G, Tube communicating with inside of balloon. |
The first balloon voyage across the English Channel was accomplished by Jean Pierre Blanchard (1753–1809) and Dr. J. Jeffries, an American physician, on the 7th of January 1785. In the preceding year, on the 2nd of March, Blanchard, who was one of the most celebrated of the earlier aeronauts,Voyages across English Channel. made his first voyage from Paris in a balloon 27 ft. in diameter (fig. 5), and descended at Billancourt near Sevres. Just as the balloon was about to start, a young man jumped into the car and drawing his sword declared his determination to ascend with Blanchard. He was ultimately removed by force. It has sometimes been incorrectly stated that he was Napoleon Bonaparte; his name in reality was Dupont de Chambon. In their Channel crossing Blanchard and his companion, who started from Dover, when about one-third across found themselves descending, and threw out every available thing from the boat or car. When about three-quarters across they were descending again, and had to throw out not only the anchor and cords, but also to strip and throw away part of their clothing, which they found they were rising, and their last resource, viz. to cut away the car, was rendered unnecessary. As they approached the shore the balloon rose, describing a magnificent arch high over the land. They descended in the forest of Guinnes.
On the 15th of June 1785, Pilâtre de Rozier made an attempt to repeat the exploit of Blanchard and Jeffries in the reverse direction, and cross from Boulogne to England. For this
- ↑ Mr Tytler contributed largely to, and, indeed, appears to have been virtually editor of, the second edition (1778–1783) of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
