3-028-283 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Mr. Charles Green, the Aeronaut, 1870. Engraving from a photograph by Mayall. 'This ingenious person, who...contributed so largely to the enlightenment as well as the amusement of the public by air-navigation, merits notice beyond that of a mere obituary...[In] 1821...he made his first ascent in a balloon inflated with coal gas, which he substituted for hydrogen...Between [then and] 1850, Green made 142 ascents from London...In 1835 Green ascended from Vauxhall Gardens, and remained up during the night...This ascent proved so attractive that, in the following year, Green constructed...a vast balloon, 150 ft. in circumference, and 80 ft. in height...The balloon crossed the Thames several times...In the same year, Mr. Green, Mr. Monck Mason, and Mr. Holland ascended in this balloon, and in the short space of one hour from the time of quitting England were floating tranquilly...above the shores of our French neighbours. They descended...in the grand duchy of Nassau, in eighteen hours - the voyage exceeding an extent of 500 British miles...[In] 1838 [he]...ascended from Vauxhall Gardens in the Nassau balloon, and descended at Lewes, in Sussex, having reached the then greatest altitude ever attained - 27,146 ft., or five miles 746 ft'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.