EUROPEAN AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY, 
25 
THE FIRST AERIAL SHIP, THE EAGLE.” 
Sir, — Herewith I send you a rough pen-and- 
ink sketch of the “ Eagle,” which is at pre- 
sent tlie Lion of the day. The monster-ina-- 
chine is the production of sonae individuals 
who last year formed themselves into a Socie- 
ty at Paris, and proposed opening an aerial 
communication between that capital and Lon- 
don. After having instituted several esperi- 
ments, these parties felt so confident of the 
practicability of their undertaking, that they 
actually fixed the time at which they would 
make their first voyage. Upon the appointed 
day, ail Paris flocked to the starting-place, 
to witness the departure of the intrepid aero- 
nauts ; but the eager expectations of this as- 
sembled multitude, and the confident hopes 
of the projectors, were equally disappointed, 
for, in consequence of the balloon being over- 
charged with gas, it suddenly burst with a 
loud report, just as it was on the point of 
leaving terra firma^ 
These individuals, under the style and title 
of / The European Aeronautical Society,” 
with Count Lenox for their President, have 
lately located themselves in the Victoria-road, 
opposite the avenue leading to Kensington 
Palace, where the following announcement 
may be seen : — 
‘LEceopean Aeronautical Society.— 
First Aerial Shijp, the “ Eagle,” 160 leet long. 
50 feet high, and 40 feet wdde, mounted by a 
crew of 17 persons, and constructed for es- 
tablishing a direct line of communication^be- 
tween the several capitals of Europe. The 
first experiment of this new system of aereal 
navigation will be made from London to Pa- 
ris, and back again.” 
In the accompanying sketch, A A is the 
balloon or gas holder, composed oi 2.400 yards 
of cotton lawn, thoroughly varnished to make 
it air-tight ; it is in the form of a cylinder, 
terminating at each end in a cotie, and is said 
to contain about 7,000 cubic feet of gas. 
The car, or packet-boat as it is termed, 
B B, is 75 feet long, and 7 feet high ; the frame- 
work is of wood, with strong netting all round 
it to prevent any of the crew or passengers 
from falling out. C is a cabin in the centre of 
the car, 6 feet wide. D E F G are four wings, 
by which the vessel is to be propelled ; each 
w ing is formed of 80 moveable flaps of varnish- 
ed lawn, 2 feet 6 inches long and 9 inches 
wide, strained upon a frame-work of cane. 
There is a strong netting on one side of the 
wings to support the flaps ohilst striking the 
air and propelling the vessel. D and F show 
the net- work ; E and G, the flaps. The 
mechanism for working the wings is placed 
inside of the cabin. C H is a rudder at the 
end of the car, by which the inventors expect 
to be enabled to steer the vessel through the 
trackless fields of air at pleasure. 
The Society have announced their inten- 
tion of making their first voyage some time 
in August ; in the interim, this Leviathan 
of the upper regions is exhibiting in the 
“dock-yard” at one shilling each person. 
The Morning Herald observes of this 
machine : — “ A more unwieldy and ungrace- 
ful entity never moved on or in any element. 
The whale and elephant are beaten hollow by 
it in point of form and grace ; yet, like one 
and the other, it may be able to make more 
rapid way than man or horse.” The projec- 
tors have displayed considerable ingenuity in 
many of their arrangements, and may even- 
tually sncceed in rendering balloons more 
manageable than they have hitherto been ; but 
I think the Society would have shown more 
judgment by continuing their experiments, 
and establishing the correctness of their theo- 
ry on a more moderate scale ; they would 
then possibly have proceeded w’ith somewhat 
less eclat, but with greater probability of 
success. 
