NAVIGATING THE AIR 



was less successful. Something went wrong with the 

 machine shortly after starting, landing the inventor in a 

 stone-quarry with a broken leg and a shattered machine. 

 This accident also shook the courage of the captain, 

 and for several years he made no more attempts at 

 flight, confining his attention to sailing a coasting- vessel. 

 But his faith in his "albatross'* never wavered, even if 

 his courage did for a time, and in 1867 he began build- 

 ing a more elaborate machine, aided by public subscrip- 

 tions. The outlook for this new device seemed very 

 promising, several fairly successful flights of perhaps 

 two hundred yards having been made, when a sudden 

 gust of wind catching up the machine one day during 

 the momentary absence of the inventor, dashed it to 

 pieces upon the ground. This was the final blow to the 

 hopes of Captain Le Bris, who made no further at- 

 tempts, his means and his energies being entirely 

 exhausted. 



GIFFARD, "the FULTON OF AERIAL NAVIGATION" 



Meanwhile the advocates of the dirigible balloon had 

 not remained idle, many of them attempting to utilize 

 the principle of the aeroplane in connection with a 

 balloon. Some of these machines were of most fantastic 

 design, but one in particular, that of Mr. Henri Giffard, 

 succeeded so well, and proved to be dirigible to such an 

 extent, that Giffard is sometimes referred to by enthusi- 

 astic admirers as " the Fulton of aerial navigation." In 

 principle, and indeed in general appearance, this 

 balloon was not unlike some of the balloons built by 

 Santos-Dumont fifty years later. It had the now- 



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