The Aeronauts: Travels in the Air

by James Glaisher Narrated by Antony Ferguson

Overview

In 1862, ambitious scientist James Glaisher set out to do the impossible: ascend higher into the skies than ever before to establish his groundbreaking research.

Glaisher's death-defying journey forms the story of the major motion picture The Aeronauts, starring Eddie Redmayne as Glaisher and Felicity Jones as his balloon companion, Amelia Wren. Written in his own words, The Aeronauts chronicles Glaisher's incredible flights and discoveries first hand, as well as his observations on the pioneers who came before and inspired him.

Includes an introduction by Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive at the Royal Meteorological Society, of which Glaisher was a founding member in 1850.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173961334
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Chapter I, The Aeronauts
CHAPTER I

 

The first scientific ascents in England

There are no frontiers in the reign of thought, and the conquests of the human mind belong to all the world; yet each civilized nation is called upon to give its contingent to the great work of the study of nature, and to choose those branches which are most suited to its genius.

France has given the balloon to the world, but her work is still incomplete, and the conquest of Charles and Montgolfier remains undeveloped. It is not, however, my intention to describe the attempts which have been made to this end, or discuss the value of the balloon as a first step towards the solution of the problem of aerial locomotion; I desire only to describe the principal results of my own aeronautical excursions, after briefly alluding to the observations of my predecessors in this field of inquiry.

The first persons in England who devoted themselves to aerial navigation were foreigners. The philosopher Tiberius Cavallo and the diplomatist Vincent Lunardi were both Italians. But from the time when Lunardi inaugurated balloon ascents to the present day, it may be truly said that balloons have remained popular with us; not only have noblemen and gentlemen shown a taste for aerial journeys, but men of science have followed up with avidity the great experiments made on the Continent, and several attempts have been made in England, both by free and captive balloons, to study systematically the phenomena of the atmosphere.

In 1838 and 1850, Mr. [George] Rush ascended several times with Mr. Green, and made some observations mainly on humidity. Public attention was aroused to a certain extent, but the ascents were chiefly known from an incident which occurred at the end of one of them. The balloon descended in the sea near Sheerness, and the car was dragged through the water with considerable rapidity; the balloon acting as a kite. Mr. Green therefore threw out the grapnel, which caught in a sunken wreck, and detained the balloon till a boat came up and secured the voyagers. A volley of musketry was fired into the balloon to admit of the escape of the gas, and it was ultimately secured.

Soon after the discovery of the balloon, a desire arose for experiments in the higher regions of the air. The first experiments, as I have previously stated, were made at St Petersburg, by command of the Emperor of Russia, by Mr. Robertson, in the years 1803 and 1804, but no important results were obtained.

In the year 1804 two experiments were made at Paris: the first on August 31, by Gay-Lussac and [Jean-Baptiste] Biot. These gentlemen ascended to the height of 13,000 feet, but did not commence their observations till they were 7,000 feet high. Their experiments in magnetism, electricity, or galvanism, gave results identical with those made on the earth—a source of much disappointment to everyone.

It was then supposed that they had not ascended high enough, and Gay-Lussac resolved to go alone, with the view of reaching a greater elevation. This he succeeded in doing on September 15 following, when he reached a height of 23,000 feet, and found a decline of temperature from 82° to 15°; almost confirming the theory of a decline of temperature of 1° in 300 feet of elevation. The sky was very blue, and the air was found to be very dry. A magnet took a longer time to vibrate than on the earth. He filled two bottles with air from the higher regions, which on analysis was found to be in its component parts the same as the lower air.

Two years after this, the Astronomer Royal of Naples, Carlo Brioschi, wished to ascend higher than Gay-Lussac, but this he was unable to do in consequence of the balloon bursting. After this no attempt was made till the year 1843, when the British Association appointed a committee and voted a sum of money for experiments by means of captive balloons. Several committees were subsequently appointed, and out of the limited resources of the Association considerable sums of money were granted for experiments by means of balloons; but no good results were obtained. This want of success ought neither to discourage nor astonish us; captive ascents, though easy enough when directed by experienced aeronauts with proper appliances, present inextricable difficulties to novices unaccustomed to the disappointments of aerial navigation.

In the year 1850 Messrs [Jacques Alexandre] Bixio and [Augustin] Barral conceived the project of ascending to a height of 30,000 to 40,000 feet, in order to study the many atmospheric phenomena as yet imperfectly known. On June 29 in that year, a balloon was filled in the garden of the Observatory at Paris with pure hydrogen gas. The weather was bad—a torrent of rain fell; Messrs Bixio and Barral, and the aeronaut, placed themselves in the car without testing the ascending power of the balloon, and darted into the air like an arrow, as described by the spectators, so that in two minutes they were lost in the clouds. At a height of 5,000 feet the gas in the balloon expanded with great force against the netting, which proved to be too small. The balloon became full, and descending upon the voyagers covered them completely as they were seated in the car, which unfortunately was suspended by cords much too short. In this difficult situation, one of them, in his efforts to disengage the cord from the valve, made an opening in the lower part of the balloon, from which the gas escaping at the height of their heads, occasioned them continued illness. Then they found that the balloon was torn and they were falling fast. They threw away everything they could, and came to the earth in a vineyard, having left it only forty-seven minutes previously. A mass of clouds 9,000 feet in thickness was passed through. The decrease of temperature up to 19,000 feet, the highest point reached, seemed to confirm the results obtained by Gay-Lussac in 1804.

In the following month, on July 27, the filling of the balloon was commenced early in the morning. It proved to be a long operation, occupying till nearly two o’clock: then heavy rain fell, the sky became overcast, and it was after four when they left the earth. They soon entered a cloud at 7,000 or 8,000 feet, which proved to be fully 15,000 feet in thickness; they never, however, reached its highest point, for when at 4:50 a.m. the height of 23,000 feet was reached, they began to descend, owing to a tear which was then found in the balloon. After vainly attempting to check this involuntary descent, they reached the earth at 5:30 a.m.

On approaching the limit of this cloud of 15,000 feet in thickness, the blue sky was seen through an opening in the surrounding vapour. The polariscope, when directed towards this point, showed an intense polarization, but when directed to the side, away from the opening, there was no polarization.

An interesting optical phenomenon was observed in this ascent. When near their highest point, the bed of clouds which covered the balloon having become less dense, the two observers saw the sun dim and quite white, and also at the same time a second sun reflected as from a sheet of water, probably formed by the reflection of luminous rays on horizontal sides of crystal ice floating in the clouds.

The most extraordinary and unexpected result, however, observed in this ascent was the great change of temperature. At the height of about 19,000 feet the temperature was 15°, but in the next 2,000 feet it fell to minus 39°. This wonderful change was experienced in the clouds. What, we may ask, can the constituents of such a cloud then be? In this voyage a height short of Gay-Lussac’s by 50 feet was reached, but a temperature lower by 54° was recorded, and the clothes of the observers were covered with fine needles of ice. From this time until quite recently no ascents have been made in France in the cause of science.

In the year 1852 Mr. [John] Welsh, of the Kew Observatory, made, under the auspices of the British Association, four ascents in the great Nassau balloon, with the veteran aeronaut Mr. Green, who had then an experience derived from several hundred ascents.

In August, October, and November he reached the respective heights of 19,500, 19,100, 12,640, and 22,930 feet, and in each ascent made a valuable series of observations.

The facts recorded by Gay-Lussac, relative to the decline of temperature with increase of elevation, appeared to confirm the law which had been derived from observations made on mountain-sides, viz. a decrease of 1° for every increase of 300 feet of elevation; and the deductions of Mr. Welsh from his experiments tended to the confirmation of the same law, with some modifications.

The results of Welsh’s observations were published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for the year 1853, and afterwards in the Bulletin Géographique de Dr. Petermann for 1856.

When these ascents were made, they excited the greatest public interest. I watched Mr. Welsh’s fourth ascent throughout, from the roof of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, with a good telescope. The day was fine and the air clear, and I was surprised at the facility with which I could follow every movement of the balloon, from its departure to its descent. During the whole time that the balloon was in the air, and while it traversed a course of fifty-seven miles in the direction E.S.E., I never lost sight of it for a moment. I saw it rise from Vauxhall at 2:22 p.m., and descend at 3:40 p.m., at a place which I afterwards learned was near Folkestone. It was this circumstance which notably influenced me in my desire for balloon observations, and which led me to believe in the possibility of combining terrestrial observations with those made in the balloon, and thereby determining the height of the balloon at different times, independently of observations made in the car. But in my own ascents I never was able to organize, to my satisfaction, the telescopic observations of the balloon from the earth, so as to verify the heights determined from my own observations.

This, however, was not the first time aerial physics had engaged my attention. A taste for these studies was first developed during my residence in Ireland in the years 1829 and 1830. In these years I was often enveloped in fog for entire weeks, first on the mountain Bencor, in Galway, and afterwards upon the summit of the Keeper Mountain, near Limerick. At this time I was engaged on the principal triangulation of the Trigonometrical Survey of Ireland, and in the performance of my duty I was often compelled to remain, sometimes for long periods, above, or enveloped in cloud. I was thus led to study the colours of the sky, the delicate tints of the clouds, the motion of opaque masses, the forms of the crystals of snow. On leaving the Survey, and entering the Observatory of Cambridge, and afterwards that of Greenwich, my taste did not change. Often between astronomical observations I have watched with great interest the forms of the clouds, and often, when a barrier of cloud has suddenly concealed the stars from view, I have wished to know the cause of their rapid formation, and the processes in action around them.

The illness of Mr. Welsh interrupted his series of experiments, and scientific ascents ceased to occupy public attention. But the British Association did not lose their interest in aerial experiments, and Colonel [William Henry] Sykes, M.P. for Aberdeen, again brought the subject before the meeting of the British Association at Leeds in 1858, and obtained the appointment of an influential committee. The resources of the Association, composed exclusively of the contributions of its members, are devoted mainly to taking the initiative in important and hitherto unexplored departments of science, and out of these limited means the necessary grants for these scientific balloon ascents were made, the chief expenses being the hire of the balloon, the payment of the aeronaut for its management, and the cost of the gas. Several of the members of the committee had already made balloon ascents with Mr. Green. They were, therefore, well able to appreciate the importance of observations made in and above the clouds. It was at first arranged that Mr. Green should direct the ascents, and that the observations should be taken by young men. Mr. Green, who was born in 1785 the same year as the introduction of balloons into England, was then seventy-four years of age.

I gave two young observers all the instructions I could in respect to the observations to be taken, and explained to them all the precautions that a long life devoted to observations suggested to me. On August 15, 1859, the members of the committee met at Wolverhampton, in order to assist at the first departure of the balloon. This town was selected on account of its central position. It was subsequently the point of departure of some of my most successful expeditions.

The weather was fine when the filling of the great Nassau balloon was begun; but the wind arose, and many accidents happened which prevented the filling of the balloon taking place, so that the ascent was deferred till August 16. The committee was again at its post on this day, but, as it proved, only to see an aerial shipwreck. When many thousands of feet of gas had been introduced into the balloon, the wind arose and blew it with such violence that it was torn, and all the gas escaped.

Mr. Green, having examined the injury, said it would take many days to repair, and as the meeting of the Association was approaching, it was resolved to defer the experiment. Such accidents would be impossible, or at least of extremely rare occurrence, if a less barbarous mode of inflating balloons than filling them slowly in the open air were adopted.

Mr. Green was greatly distressed at this accident, which was due to no fault of his; for it was attributable to the interruption of a series of experiments which, he calculated, would have placed aerial navigation in its proper place, and raised it from the inferior position in which he found it. Having had, he said, all his life to contend with similar difficulties at places of amusement only, he was more than anyone else aware of the importance of experiments made under irreproachable conditions, and placed under the patronage of learned men; and he wished to close his career under such circumstances.

The career of Green began in 1821, the year of the coronation of George IV; it continued for thirty-six years, during which he made nearly 1,400 ascents. Three times he crossed the sea; twice he fell into it. He obtained a large experience, and his accounts are worthy of all confidence; but, unfortunately, his education was not sufficiently good to make him a competent observer in the higher regions of the atmosphere. However, he improved the general management of balloons in many particulars—his guide rope in aerial navigation, particularly of use in crossing seas, and the introduction of carburetted gas in the place of hydrogen, are worthy of mention. He died in the year 1870, in his eighty-sixth year.

The Balloon Committee, though discouraged by these frequent delays, resolved to organize four ascents from Wolverhampton. It was decided that they should be to the height of four or five miles, in order to verify the facts announced by Gay-Lussac and Messrs Bixio and Barral; but on inquiry it was found that no balloon that would contain a sufficient quantity of gas to enable an observer to ascend so high was to be obtained in England. The largest, it was understood, was the Royal Cremorne, which would hold nearly 50,000 feet. This balloon the committee therefore obtained, and Mr. [Thomas] Lythgoe, who had made nearly one hundred ascents, principally from Cremorne, was employed as aeronaut. Ballooning had been for many years pursued only as a trade, and there was no choice whatever either of balloons or aeronauts. Notwithstanding the desire which I had always felt for observations at high altitudes, I had decided not to take the observations myself, but only to give all necessary instructions in the use of instruments and precautions necessary to be taken.

As the gentleman who first engaged to be the observer declined, the observations were entrusted to Mr. [Henry Charles] Criswick, assistant at the Observatory at Greenwich, who alone was to accompany the aeronaut. The space within the boundary of the Gas Works was selected for inflating the balloon. Before the hour of the ascent, the members of the committee, with Lord Wrottesley and Mr. W. [Sir William] Fairbairn, the President of the British Association, were on the ground.

At 1:04 p.m. the balloon ascended slowly and steadily. After remaining nearly stationary for a few minutes sand was thrown out, and the height of one mile was reached; in thirteen minutes it passed out of sight; but little more than a mile had been reached when the balloon descended from sheer inanition. It proved to be full of minute holes, and was quite useless, as were the observations made, which contradicted themselves. The disappointment was great. Arrangements had been made for meteorological observations every few minutes, at thirty different places. This check to the proceedings was very serious, and naturally disgusted many with aeronautical experiences. Colonel Sykes and the committee were bitterly disappointed, but met in consultation at Wrottesley Hall. Mr. Lithgoe admitted that the balloon had been in use thirty years, and was worn out; he advised application to be made to Mr. [Henry] Coxwell for the use of his Mars balloon.

I must ask pardon of the reader for entering into all these details, but they show the greatness of the difficulties with which such investigations are too often surrounded. One would have believed that the real difficulties would have been met with in the air, but, on the contrary, the greatest difficulties had to be overcome on the earth.

The Mars was found to be injured. Several tailors were set to repair it, but it was found that their combined labour could not effect the reparation in less than several days, and even then Mr. Coxwell said he could not pledge himself to make a safe ascent; he offered, however, to construct a new balloon, larger than any previously made. It was in the car of this balloon that by far the greater number of my experiments were subsequently made.

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