Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 15 April 1879, page 5


A BALLOON CATASTROPHE.

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE OF THE

AERONAUT.

The sensational event of yesterday was the balloon ascent of M Henri L'Estrange and the marvellous escape of the aeronaut from destruction. L'Estrange was advertised to ascend in the balloon "Aurora, and a large number of persons assembled at the Agri-cultural Society's ground to witness the event In order to secure a full inflation of the balloon, the Metropolitan Gas Company laid on a special 6in. main. Shortly after 11 o'clock the operation of filling the balloon was commenced, and so strong was the pressure on the main that with out any assistance from the centrifugal pump which was in readiness, the balloon was inflated in the course of about 30 minutes It is known, however, that in conveying the balloon from the Horticultural hall to the grounds several holes had been made in the calico, and these had to be repaired by M L'Estrange before the balloon was fully taut and ready for the ascent. He made the re pairs hurriedly, and used a plaster to effect them, but he said he would "chance it".

A few minutes after 3 o'clock the work of attaching the car or basket in which the aeronaut takes his place was commenced, and at 20 minutes to 4 o'clock the adventurer took his place in the car, and proceeded to tie up the orifice of the balloon with a pocket handkerchief, the valve check passing through the orifice so secured into the car. This proceeding has been much commented on as unusual, and to it some people attri-bute the accident, M L'Estrange at once gave the signal to let go, and almost immediately the balloon shot up into the air with surprising velocity. The aeronaut, however, did not appear to be at all alarmed, and waved his adieux to the assembled multitude with perfect sangfroid. When about half a mile from the earth he threw out of the car a number of handbills which floated in the atmosphere for a considerable distance, and when he had ascended to a still greater height, he was observed to throw out the contents of a bag of sand. The balloon still continued to ascend, and the car and its occupant were quite unrecognisable without the aid of a glass, when the balloon itself was Been to suddenly open on one side and commenced to descend with terrible velocity. Almost instantly the silk parachute attached to the centre of the balloon opened and cheeked the speed at which the balloon was descending, but still it was of so rapid a nature that the majority of those looking on were of opinion that M L'Estrange would be dashed to pieces. The crowd watched the descent with breathless anxiety, and seeing the direction in which the balloon fell a rush was made for the spot. On reaching the place it was found that M L'Estrange was buried beneath the débris of the balloon, the netting and portion of the linen of which was caught in a fir tree at the

rear of Government house. The car had

fallen to the ground by the side of the tree, and M L'Estrange, overcome by the violence of the shock, was unable to extri-cate himself from the folds of the material of which the balloon was constructed. This was, however, promptly remedied, and the fearless aeronaut was rescued, apparently but little injured. The time occupied in this rapid ascent and still more speedy descent was as near as possible nine minutes. Amongst the excited crowd there were soon circulating at least a dozen statements as to the cause of the accident. M L'Estrange's story is as follows -He states that having in Sydney been supplied with gas of such inferior quality he had not been able to adequately calculate the buoyancy of the balloon when inflated with the Melbourne gas. When starting he went up with remarkable rapidity and every thing appeared to be going well, when he passed through a stratum of clouds, and thinking that he would meet with further atmospheric resist-ance he emptied out a bag of ballast. The effect was to cause the balloon to shoot up with great celerity, and almost immediately afterwards he heard an explosion as if of a large cannon, and on looking up he saw that the balloon had burst. He then commenced to descend with terrible velocity, but the parachute opened out, and somewhat checked its speed. He had the presence of mind to throw every thing out of the car, and having done so he quietly awaited his fate expecting every minute to be dashed to pieces he swiftly descended, and the car struck the earth, giving him a víolent shock, while the balloon was caught upon a tree M L'Estrange ex-plains that immediately after throwing out the bag of sand he found himself in a new and highly rarefied atmosphere. He was just going to open the valve and allow a quantity of gas to escape, when the balloon exploded. Under ordinary circumstances, when inflated the balloon was supposed to carry a weight of 1,469 lb., and that with the weight of the material 1,070 lb., left 399 lb. to spare for ballast and passengers but with the Melbourne gas it is believed that there was as at least 700 lb. to spare, and the conse-quence was that when the balloon was let go it shot up with unexpected force and speed. M L'Estrange at-tributes the disaster to the fact that the gas was of a much lighter quality than that for which his calculations were made and also that be miscalculated the density of the higher atmosphere into which he ascended. His sensations after the balloon collapsed were, as may well be imagined, of a very dreadful nature. He had ascended to a height of nearly a mile and three quarters from the earth, and he felt that, falling from that height, death would be inevitable , but having thrown out the ballast, and endeavoured as far as possible to gather up the remains of the balloon he commended himself to a higher power. Con-sequent upon the velocity with which he descended, the wind came whistling and screaming through the bottom of the car, and he feared that the parachute would fail him. It split in several places, but still re-mined tolerably effective. On reaching the ground, although sustaining a fearful shock, he realised the fact that he had escaped with his life. The folds of the balloon, however, pressed closely upon him, and he was in dread of suffocation, but finding a small hole in the linen he placed Ins mouth to it, and was enabled to obtain air by that means suffi-cient to sustain himself until assistance. arrived. On being rescued M L'Estrange was placed in a cab and taken to his resi-

dence, and later in the evening he visited several places in the city. In consequence of the rumours circulated as fo the fate of the aeronaut - whose escape the eye-witnesses of the disaster could scarcely be induced to believe - Messrs. Hiscocks and Hayman induced him to appear upon the stage at St George;s Hall, where he met with a most enthusiastic reception.