Atlantic (airship)

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The Atlantic was a balloon built by John La Mountain and John Wise under the auspices of the Trans-Atlantic Balloon Company. Its original purpose was to cross the Atlantic after making a flight from St. Louis to the east coast.

The Atlantic was the largest balloon built to date, and set a world distance record of 862 miles with its only flight, from St. Louis to Jefferson County, New York. It was made from 2250 yards of oiled Chinese silk, assembled by a team of seamstresses directed by La Mountain. Its diameter was 50' and its height 60'. Attached was a wicker car and a boat with canvas jacket 15' below.[1]

The Atlantic had a capacity of 120,000 cubic feet of gas; at St. Louis it took on only 65,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas (costing $195), to allow for expansion.[1]

The original crew was to be La Mountain, Wise, and O. A. Gager, the project's financier. To these was added reporter William Hyde of the Daily Missouri Republican, with the understanding that he would be offloaded if necessary to reduce weight. Wise, captain, rode in the wicker basket, while the other three men rode in the boat below.[1]

Wise later noted that the hydrogen balloon had become phosphorescent:

During the day, and while the balloon was being inflated, the sun was pouring down upon it in a flood of heat and light. Although it is a proverb "that you cannot carry light in a bag," it will be learned that this ancient saying found its contradiction in our gas-bag. It did carry up with it heat and light, and during the whole night it was illuminated with a brightness equal to a Chinese paper lantern. [...] Every seam and every mesh in the network could be traced upon its surface. Even the atmosphere around and beneath us seemed to partake of this mellow light. Woods, roads, prairies, streams and towns were discernible, and their outlines could clearly be traced at our greatest elevation.[2]

Wise nearly died on the first night when, sleeping alone in the wicker basket, he was exposed to hydrogen gas which had expanded and was hissing out of the balloon. The next day, the balloon was caught in a fierce storm over Lake Ontario and ultimately crashed into the woods of New York.[1]

The Atlantic carried a bag of mail bound from the Pacific through St. Louis to New York. The crew was forced to jettison the bag during the storm but it turned up two days later in pretty good shape at Oswego, New York.[3]

Wise wrote that the voyage had demonstrated the presence of a west-to-east air current. On the issue of safety, he submitted:

To the allegations so frequently made that it is an extremely dangerous mode of transition, we have the fact before us that the voyage just narrated, and which has been so full of hazard, nevertheless terminated without causing any bodily harm to those who participated in its adventure. Now, if the reader will take the pains to examine the records of history of that eventful second of July as reported in the newspapers, he will find that sixteen sailing vessels were wrecked and lost on the lakes on that very day, and with them a number of lives, while our air-craft rode the storm, and in the end landed us without any serious harm.[4]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Horgan, 1965, pp. 60–69.
  2. John Wise, "Wafted Across the Continent: Twelve Hundred Miles Through the Air", To-day, Vol. 1, No. 25, 19 April 1873, p. 475.
  3. Allaz, 1998, p. 14. "When the situation got even worse, it was with heavy heart that John Wise resolved to do the unthinkable: to sacrifice the mailbag! [...] And the mail? As in any good American film, everything turned out for the best; two days later the mailbag was recovered on the shore, near Oswego, after having completed a record journey by air of over 750 miles. In spite of spending two days in the waters of the lake, the mail was found to be in good condition and was distributed to its recipients."
  4. Wise, 1873, Through the Air, p. 521.