3-017-304 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ascent of Mr. Coxwell's Great Balloon from the Crystal Palace grounds, 1865. 'Mr. Coxwell's balloon, named the Research...is composed of fifty gores, each gore being 44 in. wide at the centre and 105 ft. long. It contains about 112,000 cubic feet of gas...It had rained heavily during the afternoon...Mr. Coxwell remarks, "the lower cloud, one widespread mass, hung heavily over the Crystal Palace, and the tops of the towers were partially obscured...In less than one minute we were lost to sight...the rain ran down the sides of the balloon and covered us by shooting down the neck...in one of the darkest clouds I had ever passed through, it was evident we had entered the very fountain of rainfall...I observed a peculiar vibratory motion of the balloon and car, such as accompanies its passage from still air to an aerial wave of wind and storm. I inferred that we were either entering a fresh current or moving upwards with a spiral motion...On getting 3000 ft. elevation we decided that, as there was little enjoyment to be had, it was better to [look] for a landing-place...We alighted very gently on the grounds of Mr. Peter H. Desvignes, at Lewisham." That gentleman...gave Mr. Cox well and his companions a most hospitable and kindly welcome'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.