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Herald Of The Times
(Newport, R. I.)
August 6, 1835
Boston, MA. – July 4, 1862
November 27, 2022
Boston Massachusetts, July 4, 1862
At 7:05 p.m. on the evening of July 4, 1860, Professor Samuel A. King and four passengers took off from the Boston Common in the balloon “Star Spangled Banner” as part of the city’s July Fourth celebration. With the professor were Mr. J. B. Stearns, Superintendent of the Boston Telegraph Fire Alarms, William Mc Cormic, and Mr. Holden, both newspaper reporters, and a forth man identified as Thaddeus Page.
As it rose, the balloon took an easterly course towards Boston Harbor. There was fog over the water, and so King made preparations to land as soon as possible. He released some of the gas and the balloon came down in the water just south of Rainsford Island. After rising again, it began to head towards Long Island. (One of Boston’s Harbor Islands.) King figured he could make a landing there but then realized it would be impossible.
Meanwhile people on several boats had been watching the men’s predicament and set course to intercept them. Ropes were dropped from the balloon, and the first to secure one was a man aboard a sail boat, but the boat was no match for the bobbing balloon and he had to release it.
A line was then secured to the tugboat “Huron”, but it snapped. A second line was secured and this one held, but the strong winds now buffeting the balloon were causing the balloon to pull the tug off course and towards a rocky reef where it would likely be wrecked.
King and his passengers were forced to abandon the balloon and climb down the thirty foot rope to the deck of the tug. As they were doing so, Stearns lost his grip and fell into the water but was quickly rescued. King was the last to leave the balloon, and as soon as he was safely aboard the tug the line was cut and the balloon sailed away.
The balloon, which was valued at $800, was recovered the following day having come down on a fence and torn open.
Sources:
The Boston Post, (no headline), July 4, 1862
New York Herald, “Ascension of the Great Balloon “Star Spangled Banner” From Boston Common – Peril of the Aeronauts”, July 11, 1862
Professor Samuel Archer King – Aeronaut
November 27, 2022
Professor Samuel Archer King, (April 9, 1828 – November 3, 1914), was one of America’s earliest and well known aeronauts who performed balloon ascensions all over the north east.
He made his first balloon ascension at Philadelphia on September 25, 1851 in a balloon he’d designed and constructed himself. The take off was less than grand, for their hadn’t been enough gas to fill the balloon, but King took off anyway not wanting to disappoint the crown. As the balloon began to rise, it struck an enclosure, then a bridge, and then some telegraph wires. The balloon then came down in the Schuylkill River. It then proceeded to bounce across the river giving King a good dunking until it finally came to rest on the opposite shore.
On another ascension from Wilkesbarre, Pa., in 1855, King found himself over some thickly forested mountains looking for a place to land when the balloon became snagged in the top branches of a hemlock tree and was then driven into the branches of another tree. The sharp branched caused the gas bag to burst and King fell 40 feet to the ground.
In August of 1857, King ascended from New Haven, Connecticut, with two passengers aboard. Air currents blew the balloon out over Long Island sound and then eastward towards the Atlantic Ocean. King managed to set the balloon down in the water and allowed it to be “dragged” by winds to a tiny unnamed island. The men were rescued a short time later by a boat that had been following their progress.
On October 13, 1860, Professor King and photographer J. W. Black ascended over Boston in a tethered balloon. It was during this flight that the world’s first aerial photograph was taken.
At the 1861 Fourth of July celebration held on the Boston Common, King ascended with four passengers. Once the balloon rose, winds began carrying it towards Boston Harbor. Not wanting to be blown out to sea, King made preparations to land on a small strip of sand at the shoreline. After dropping ballast and releasing gas, the balloon began to settle towards the intended landing place, but as it neared the ground one of the passengers suddenly jumped out, which significantly lightened the load, and the balloon suddenly shot up again again and resumed its course over the water. King knew that their only chance of survival was to all leave the balloon at the same time, and after dropping low enough, they all jumped and splashed down in the harbor. The balloon continued on and was later recovered a few miles off shore by a passing boat.
The following year King made another July 4th ascension from the Boston Common with four passengers, and once again he was carried out over the harbor. Fore more information, click here.
Another adventure occurred while King was giving tethered ascensions at Melrose, Massachusetts, (Date Unknown), where the balloon was tethered to the ground by men holding it with ropes. There King ascended with five women passengers. Then someone lost their grip on a rope, which it seemed to set of a chain reaction, and within seconds all men had let go, and the balloon sailed upwards. Two women reportedly “clapped with joy”, which the others expressed concern. King successfully brought the balloon back to earth about four miles away.
1870 Advertisement
On July 4, 1872 King was scheduled to take off from the Boston Common in his new balloon, “Colossus”, the largest balloon ever constructed up to that time. https://newenglandaviationhistory.com/samuel-a-kings-balloon-colossus-1872/
Professor continued to pilot balloons well into his 80s. On October 27, 1907, King and four passengers took off from Philadelphia in the balloon “Ben Franklin“, said to be the world’s largest at the time, holding 92,000 cubic feet of gas. They landed safely in Belchertown, Massachusetts.
Professor King passed away on November 3, 1914, at the age of 87. Throughout his career he’d made 480 flights in a balloon.
Professor King had a son, Frank K. King, who was also an aeronaut.
Sources:
The Charleston Daily News, (Charleston, S. C.), “Up In A Balloon – Perilous Adventures of an Aeronaut – A few Flights With Him “, March 21, 1870
The Birmingham Age-Herald, (Ala.) “The Oldest Aeronaut”, November 7, 1914, pg. 7
The Waterbury Democrat, “First Aerial Photo Shown”, October 1, 1943.
Boston Harbor, MA. – June 17, 1888
November 19, 2022
Boston Harbor, Massachusetts – June 17, 1888
On June 17, 1888, the annual Bunker Hill celebration was taking place in Boston. Part of the program included a balloon ascension which took place late in the afternoon. At about 4:30 p.m. the balloon took off with three men aboard. The pilot was famous aeronaut George A. Rogers, with passengers L. W. Cashman of the Boston Globe newspaper, and Rogers’ assistant, George Seavey.
The balloon drifted for about over the city before it was blown out over Boston Harbor and came down in the water near Acorn Island. Upon impact with the water Rogers and Seavey were pitched into the water, but Cashman managed to cling to the upper rigging and remain aboard. All three men were rescued by a yacht that had been watching the progress of the balloon.
This was not the first balloon accident Professor Rogers was involved in. One occurred in July of 1881, and another on July 4, 1888, and yet another in which he lost his life, occurred on July 4, 1892.
Source: The Portland Daily Press, (Portland, Me.) “Balloonists Get A Ducking”, June 19, 1888.
Daily Evening Bulletin
Maysville, KY.)
September 22, 1884
The initial J should have been a G.
Boston, MA – July 4, 1892
April 3, 2015
Boston, Massachusetts – July 4, 1892
As part of some July 4th celebration activities, Boston city officials had organized a balloon ascension from the Boston Common.
Just after 4:00 p.m. Professor George Augustus Rogers of Malden, Maine, his assistant Thomas Fenton, and a reporter, Delos E. Goldsmith, stepped into the gondola of the huge balloon named the Governor Russell, and prepared for lift-off.
When the Governor Russell was released, it rose several hundred feet and began drifting towards Dorchester, but then the wind changed and carried it out over Boston Harbor. It continued on this course, steadily rising higher, and before long it became apparent the craft would be blown out to sea – a balloonist’s worst nightmare, for it meant almost certain death if rescue was not readily available. As the balloon drifted towards Thompson’s Island, Rogers attempted to release some of the gas by opening the release valve, but had trouble doing so, and a lager tear in the fabric resulted. As the gas rushed out, the balloon fell rapidly, crashing into the water and completely collapsing.
As the occupants floundered, Rogers sank beneath the waves and disappeared. Fenton and Goldsmith managed to stay afloat and were rescued by men in a rowboat from Thompson’s Island. A passing tugboat also gave assistance, and took both men to the mainland, but Fenton died before they reached shore from inhaling the poison gas from the balloon. Goldsmith later recovered.
Professor Rogers was an experienced balloonist having made 112 ascensions since 1870. Ironically, this wasn’t the professor’s first aviation accident. On July 4, 1881, Rogers took off in a balloon from Point-of-Pines in Revere, Massachusetts, and arrived over Nahant, Mass. where the balloon fabric suddenly ripped, causing him to land upon some telephone wires. It was reported that he received “injuries from which he never fully recovered.”
Rogers left behind a wife and family. His body was recovered on July 15, found floating in the water near the L Street bathhouse.
Thomas Fenton, 34, was survived by his wife and six children. This was his first trip in a balloon.
The accident left city officials wondering if balloon ascensions should be allowed in the future, with some going on record as stating any future requests would be denied.
Prof. Rogers had been involved in at least two previous balloon accidents. One in July of 1881, and the other on June 17, 1888.
Sources:
New York Times, “Three Balloon Accidents”, July 5, 1892
New York Times, “The Boston Balloon Accident”, July 6, 1892
Burlington Weekly Free Press, (Burlington, VT.) “Aeronaut Rogers’ Body”, July 21, 1892
Samuel A King’s Balloon “Colossus” – 1872
February 1, 2018
Samuel A. King’s Balloon “Colossus” – 1872
Updated November 27, 2002
Advertisement from August, 1878 In January of 1872, famous aeronaut and balloonist Samuel A. King, (1828 – 1914), of Boston, began constructing what would be, when completed, “the largest balloon ever made in America”. The name of the balloon was to be “Colossus”.
The balloon, it was reported, would have a circumference of 191 feet, with a capacity to hold 100,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas. It would require 1,200 yards of Lyman cloth to make, which would be custom manufactured for this specific purpose. To give the balloon added strength, twenty-four bands of four-thickness cloth would encircle the sphere. The entire balloon would be coated with an oil based varnish to make it air tight in order to prevent the massive amount of gas from wicking out through the fabric.
The pilot and passengers would be carried in two custom made cars suspended beneath the balloon, with one car situated above the other. The upper car would be smaller than the lower one. The top car would carry scientific instruments and passengers, while the lower one more passengers and ballast. The entire balloon, empty, would reportedly weigh between 1,400 and 1,500 pounds, and when fully inflated would have a lifting capacity of 7,000 pounds, which could equate to fifteen or twenty passengers.
It was expected that the Colossus would be completed in time for its scheduled inaugural launch from the Boston Common as part of the city’s 1872 Fourth of July celebration. Construction would take place at Mr. King’s residence and workshop located at 179 Chelsea Street in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
On June 6, 1872, as the balloon was nearing completion, it was seriously damaged by fire. Portions of the balloon fabric had been spread out on a vacant lot between Chelsea and Watts Streets where it had received the first of four coats of the oil-varnish. As the fabric was left to dry, a storm approached, so workmen carefully rolled it up to prevent moisture damage. At some point after the storm had passed, the fabric was unrolled, at which time sections were found to be on fire due to spontaneous combustion caused by solvents in the oil-varnish.
Professor King was away in Philadelphia at the time making arrangements for the completion of one of the passenger carrying baskets, and was notified of the setback by telegraph.
Fortunately the balloon was salvaged, and repairs completed in time for it’s anticipated ascension from the Boston Common on July 4th. On that day thousands came to watch the event. This was to be Professor King’s 164th balloon ascension, and he was going to take twelve passengers with him on this historic flight. “In my judgement,” King told a reporter, “although you can’t depend much on the weather, we will find ourselves about ten o’clock to-night somewhere up in the mountains of New Hampshire.” His comment about the unpredictability of the weather would prove to be prophetic.
Most of the twelve passengers were newspaper men, but at least one was a scientist from Washington, D.C., who planned to record atmospheric conditions with scientific equipment. While the balloon was being inflated on the Common, at least four citizens approached King with cash offers if he’d take them along on the flight, but all were refused.
The scheduled time for lift-off was 4 p.m. Shortly after 2 p.m., as the balloon was about 80% inflated with Hydrogen gas, a violent storm suddenly appeared, and when the sky opened up spectators were sent running for cover in all directions. The strong winds whipped at the balloon which swayed back and forth tugging at its moorings. Whether it was struck by lightning or not is uncertain, but suddenly there was a loud boom as the Colossus abruptly exploded. The fabric was in shreds and the massive giant immediately fell flat on the ground. One newspaper described the scene afterwards as such: (The balloon) “…lay inanimate on the earth a dirty mass of cotton shreds, dragged and slimy in the rain and mud.”
Fortunately there were no reported injuries due to the explosion.
Fore more information about Prof. Samuel King click here.
Sources:
The Daily Dispatch, (Richmond, VA.) “A Colossal Balloon”, (Copied from the Boston Advertiser, May 23, 1872.
The Tiffin Tribune, (Tiffin, Ohio), “The Largest Balloon In The World Ruined By Spontaneous Combustion”, (Copied from the Boston Advertiser), June 20, 1872.
The New York Herald, “Boston’s Big Gas Bags – Serious Catastrophes To Science In Boston”, July 5, 1872
First Balloon Ascension In Massachusetts – 1821
March 13, 2017
First Balloon Ascension In Massachusetts – 1821
The earliest known balloon ascension to take place in the state of Massachusetts occurred on September 3, 1821, from the Washington Gardens on Treemont Street in Boston. The pilot was a well known aeronaut by the name of Louis Charles Guille, who had begun making balloon ascensions in New Jersey in 1818. The balloon landed on Ten Hills Farm in Somerville, a town just to the north of Boston.
Not only was this flight the first of its kind in the Bay State, but it also triggered what might be the first lawsuit involving a balloon. Ten Hills Farm was owned at the time by a man named Swan, who sued Aeronaut Guille for damage to his vegetable crops.
The facts of the case were stated in a newspaper article which appeared in the New Ulm Review, (a Minnesota newspaper), on December 21, 1910, as part of an article about the potential liability attached to air travelers who may inadvertently cause damage to private property on the ground. The case involving Louis Charles Guille was cited as a president even though it had occurred 89 years earlier.
The article stated in part:
” The facts are there stated as follows: Guille ascended in a balloon in the vicinity of Swan’s garden and descended into his garden. When he descended, his body was hanging out of the car of the balloon in a very perilous situation, and he called to a person at work in Swan’s field to help him in a voice audible to the pursuing crowd. After the balloon descended it dragged along over potatoes and radishes about thirty feet, when Guille was taken out. The balloon was carried to a barn at the farther end of the premises.
When the balloon descended more than 200 persons broke into Swan’s garden through the fences and came on his properties, beating down his vegtables and flowers. The damage done by Guille with his balloon was about $15, but the crowd did much more. The plaintiff’s damage in all amounted to $90.
It was contended before the justice that Guille was answerable only for the damage done by himself and not for the damage done by the crowd. The justice was of the opinion, and so instructed the jury, that the defendant was answerable for all the damage done to the plaintiff. The jury accordingly found a verdict for him for $90, on which the judgement was given and for costs.”
The sum of ninety-dollars was a significant amount of money in 1821. Guille appealed, but the decision was upheld. The court ruled in part that Guille was a trespasser, (although not intentionally), and that his shouts for help “induced the crowd to follow him”, which in turn made him liable.
Sources:
New York Tribune, “New Laws For Air Travel Soon To Be Broached”, October 24, 1909, page 3.
New Ulm Review, (Minnesota), “Air Trespassing May Be Costly”, December 21, 1910
Massachusetts Aviation Historical Society, www.massaerohistory.org
Book: “North Jersey Legacies: Hidden History From The Gateway To The Skylands”, by Gordon Bond, The History Press, 2012
Boston, MA – May 23, 1896
February 27, 2017
Boston, Massachusetts – May 23, 1896
At 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 23, 1896, a balloon ascension was scheduled to take place at the Congress Street ball fields in Boston. The man advertised to fly the balloon was an aeronaut identified only as “Strickland”.
At the appointed time the balloon was to rise to an altitude of 5,000 feet where Strickland was to perform daring feats on a trapeze suspended beneath the balloon, and then drop using a parachute and land back on the ball fields. Unfortunately as the balloon was being filled with hot air it was accidentally set on fire and quickly eaten by the flames.
The crowd, of course, demanded a refund of their ticket money, which likely would have been done, however, some chose not to wait and started a riot. During the melee a dozen people were injured and Strickland himself, it was reported, “would have been killed but for the resistance of a squad of policemen.”
Source: Vermont Phoenix, “Massachusetts Notes – Balloon Ascended In Smoke”, May 29, 1896
Boston Harbor, MA – July 4, 1888
February 27, 2017
Boston Harbor, Massachusetts – July 4, 1888
At 6 p.m. on the evening of July 4, 1888, a balloon rose from the Boston Common and drifted eastward over the harbor where it unexpectedly came down in the water not far from an area of land known as Point Shirley, which is located in the neighboring town of Winthrop. A strong wind was blowing, and the occupants of the balloon were dragged for three miles through the choppy waters until rescued by the crew of a steam powered yacht identified as the Rose G.
A newspaper account stated, “After much trouble the party were taken aboard and all were safely brought to the city. The journey was a most perilous one, and the escape from death of the excursionists almost miraculous.”
The names of the balloon’s occupants weren’t given.
Updated May 21, 2023
The names of the balloon’s occupants were Professor George Rogers, and John W. Seavey.
Click here for more info about George Rogers.
Sources:
The Indianapolis Journal, (Indiana), “Aeronauts In Peril”, July 6, 1888.
The Aroostook Republican, (Maine) “A Perilous Trip”, July 11, 1888.
