The Wreck of "Santos Dumont No. 6 " 417 



been able to make may be of interest to the readers of The 



s, all the more so as the accounts which have been published 

 up to the present date are in many particulars inexact. At 

 the same time, complete accuracy is not claimed for this account. 

 It i> in the main a log corrected by photography. 



Since I have been here M. Dumont has taken his balloon 

 out three times. The first time, on the loth inst., he took his 

 balloon a little way outside the harbour and returned. I wit- 

 nessed it from the Rock of Monaco, which has a greater altitude 

 than that which the balloon usually attains. The first impres- 

 sion was one of astonishment at the ease with which it was got 

 out of the hangar and started, and at the speed which it 

 attained almost immediately. But the most striking and at 

 the same time unfavourable feature was the heavy pitching 

 of the balloon, which at times attained an amplitude of not 



rom 45 deg. on each side of the vertical. The period of 

 the pitching was like that of the rolling of a large ship that 

 is, from five to six complete excursions in the minute. The 

 air was not calm. Outside there was a smart breeze blowing. 

 In the harbour it took the form of a back eddy in shore. In 

 going out the balloon had this rather uncertain wind 

 it, but it went through it without apparent effort at a speed 

 . entirely nut-nipped tin- " rrm< esse Alice's" steam 

 launch, which i- a new and very fast boat. It was est 

 and I think the estimate was within the mark, that the balloon 

 was frequently going against this breeze at tin- : s knots 



the ground. On the journey home the balloon had the 

 back eddy as a fair wind, .md M Dumnnt'- wi.rk in taki: 

 in and berthing it was comparable with that of a pilot taking a 



ner down I .t. turning hn i<>und 



at a given point, and ta! into a dock 



mce to which i-> little greater than the beam of hi^ ^lup 

 Tin- vrr\ ditti< ult operation was accomplished \\ith . omplete 

 success. 



On tin- aftnn. -ii M xmtos Diim<>nt took his 



balloon out again. H< intin -reding 



towards Cap Maitm. and th. 1'iince sent 



"in Monaco to Cap M iulc 



H. III 



