The First Aerial Voyage

[The following is taken from pages 12-15 of Lighter-Than-Air Flight edited by Lt. Col. C.V. Glines, USAF, published by Franklin Watts, Inc., 1965.]

The preliminary flights in a captive balloon were preludes to the next logical step in the Montgolfier experiments—free flight. But it was not a matter of simply cutting a rope and letting the intrepid aeronauts go with the wind. The King of France, Louis XVI, would not permit any such manned flight to take place. The Marquis François-Laurent d’Arlendes,an influential friend of de Rozier, interceded and gained an audience with the King. Pointing out that the first manned tethered flights had been successful and that the animals used in the free flight had all survived, d’Arlendes pleaded that two men should now be allowed to ascend for the glory of France.

The King was not convinced. “Take two criminals who are under the death sentence and tie them to the basket of the balloon,” he said. “That will be a new way of getting rid of worthless human beings.”

The King finally relented and gave his permission. D’Arlendes hurried to de Rozier’s home in Paris near the Bois de Boulogne. The two eager mean contacted the Montgolfiers who had already prepared the oven platform and manufactured a new balloon. Early on the Morning of November 21, 1783, workmen stoked the fire and hoisted the balloon to its mooring posts. By noon, word had spread quickly that the experiment was going to take place and a large crowd gathered. By 1:30, the huge linen and paper globe was towering above the nearby trees and straining at the ropes. The gallery of the balloon was stacked with enough straw to feed the fire for about an hour. At exactly 1:51 P.M. Pilatre de Rozier signaled for the last rope to be cast off. D’Arlendes, in a classic letter to his friend Faujas de Saint Fond, described the first free flight in man’s inexorable journey toward space. . . .

I wish to describe as well as I can the first journey which men have attempted through an element which, prior to the discovery of M. Montgolfier, seemed so little fitted to support them.

We went up on the twenty-first of November, 1783, at about two o’clock, M. Rozier on the west side of the balloon, I on the east. The wind was nearly northwest. The machine, says the public, rose with majesty; but really the position of the balloon altered so that M. Rozier was in the advance of our position, I in the rear.

I was surprised at the silence and the absence of movement which our departure caused among the spectators, and believed them to be astonished and perhaps awed at the strange spectacle; they might well have reassured themselves. I was still gazing, when M. Rozier cried to me:

“You are doing nothing, and the balloon is scarcely rising a fathom.”

“Pardon me,” I answered, as I placed a bundle of straw upon the fire and slightly stirred it. Then I turned quickly, but already we had passed out of sight of La Muette. Astonished, I cast a glance towards the river. I perceived the confluence of the Oise. And naming the principal bends by places nearest them, I cried, “Passy, Saint-Germain, Saint-Denis, Sèvres.”

“If you look at the river in that fashion you will be likely to bathe in it soon,” cried Rozier. “some fire, my dear friend, some fire!”

We traveled on, but instead of crossing the river, as our direction seemed to indicate, we bore towards the Invalides, then returned upon the principal bed of the river, and traveled to above the barrier of La Conference, thus dodging about the river, but not crossing it.

“That river is very difficult to cross,” I remarked to my companion.

“So it seems,” he answered, “but you are doing nothing. I suppose that it is because you are braver than I and don’t fear a tumble.”

I stirred the fire, I seized a truss of straw with my fork, I raised it and threw it in the midst of the flames. An instant later I felt myself lifted as it were into the heavens.

“For once we move,” I said.

“Yes, we move,” answered my companion.

At the same instant I heard from the top of the balloon a sound which made me believe that it had burst. I watched, yet I saw nothing. My companion had gone into the interior, no doubt to make some observations. As my eyes were fixed on the top of the machine I experienced a shock, and it was the only one I had yet felt. The direction of the movement was from above downwards. I then said:

“What are you doing? Are you having a dance to yourself?”

“I’m not moving,” countered Rozier.

“So much the better. It is only a new current which I hope will carry us from the river,” I stated further.

I turned to see where we were, and found we were between the École Militaire and the Invalides.

“We are getting on,” said Rozier.

“Yes, we are traveling.”

“Let us work then, let us work,” he then said.

I now heard another report in the machine, which I believed was produced by the cracking of a cord. This new intimation made me carefully examine the inside of our habitation. I saw that the part which was turned towards the south was full of holes, some of which were considerable in size.

“It must descend,” I then cried.

“Why?”

“Look!” I said. At the same time I took my sponge and quietly extinguished the little fire that was burning some of the holes within my reach, I then perceived that the bottom of the cloth was coming away from the circle which surrounded it.

“We must descend,” I repeated to my companion.

He looked below. “We are upon Paris,” he said.

“It does not matter,” I replied. “Only look! Isn’t there any danger? Are you holding on well?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

I examined the situation from my side, and saw that we had nothing to fear. With my sponge I then tried the ropes which were within my reach. All of them held firm. Only two of the cords had broken.

I then said, “We can cross Paris.”

During this operation we were rapidly getting down to the roofs. We made more fire, and rose again with the greatest ease. I looked down, and it seemed to me we were going towards the towers of Saint Sulpice; but, on rising, a new current made us quit this direction and bear more to the south. I looked to the left, and beheld a wood, which I believed to be that of Luxembourg. We were traversing the boulevard, and I cried out all at once:

“Get to the ground!”

But the intrepid Rozier, who never lost his head and who judged more surely than I, prevented me from attempting to descend. I then threw a bundle of straw on the fire. We rose again, and another current bore us to the left. We were now close to the ground, between two hills. As soon as we came near the earth I raised myself over the gallery, and leaning there with my two hands, I felt the balloon pressing softly against my head. I pushed it back, and leaped down to the ground. Looking round and expecting to see the balloon still distended, I was astonished to find it quite empty and flattened. On looking for Rozier I saw him in his shirt-sleeves creeping out from under the mass of canvas that had fallen over him. Before attempting to descend, he had taken off his coat and placed it in the basket. After encountering much trouble, we were again all right.

As Rozier was without a coat I urged him to go to the nearest house. On his way there, he encountered the Duke of Chartres, who had managed to follow our flight very closely, for I had had the honor of conversing with him just before we ascended.