178 Historical 



In this same year, a very dramatic ascent took place at Bologna. 



Count Fr. Zambeccari, of Bologna, Dr. Grasetti, of Rome, and 

 Pascal Andreoli, of Ancona, left during the night of the 7th-8th 

 of October, 1803. They had spent the day in inflating their balloon, 

 which measured 14,000 cubic feet, and intended to start the next 

 day; but they had to hurry on account of the rioting and shouts 

 of the populace of Bologna. The balloon rose with extreme rapid- 

 ity, and they soon reached such a height that Zambeccari and 

 Grasetti, overcome by the cold and exhausted by a series of 

 vomiting, fell into a sort of torpor accompanied by a profound 

 sleep. The brief account, inserted in the Annales de Gilbert, 1 '■ 

 tells their sufferings and misfortune as follows: 



Andreoli, who had retained use of his senses, could not read the 

 barometer because the candle which they had brought in a lantern 

 had gone out. About 2:30 in the morning, the balloon began io 

 descend, and Andreoli heard distinctly the noise of waves breaking 

 on the coast of Romagna. He awoke his companions .... The basket 

 and the balloon fell into the Adriatic Sea with such force that the 

 water dashed up around them to the height of a man. The aeronauts, 

 covered with water, in great haste threw out a bag of sand, their 

 instruments, and all that the basket contained. 



Then the balloon again rushed rapidly into the air. They tra- 

 versed three strata of clouds, and their clothes were covered with a 

 thick layer of ice; the air was so rarefied that they could hardly hear 

 each other. About three o'clock the balloon descended again. 



The melancholy German pamphleteer Kotzebue, 14 during his 

 journey to Italy, called on Zambeccari, this man "whose eyes are 

 thoughts". The daring aeronaut gave him a detailed account of 

 this terrible ascension of October 7-8, in which he nearly perished: 



I rose at midnight .... Suddenly we mounted with inconceivable 

 speed. 



We could observe the barometer only by lantern light, and that 

 very imperfectly. The unendurable cold which reigns in the region 

 to which we had risen, the exhaustion I felt from lack of food for 24 

 hours, the grief which overwhelmed my soul, this whole combination 

 caused complete torpor and I fell on the bottom of the basket in a 

 sort of sleep like death. The same thing happened to my companion 

 Grasetti. Andreoli was the only one who remained awake and well, 

 no doubt because his stomach was full and he had drunk rum abun- 

 dantly. In fact, he too had suffered greatly from the cold, which was 

 excessive, and for a long time made vain efforts to awaken me. 

 Finally he succeeded in getting me to my feet, but my ideas were 

 confused; I asked him, as if I had been dreaming: "What's the news? 

 Where are we going? What time is it? What is the direction of the 

 wind?" 



It was two o'clock. The compass was ruined, consequently it was 



