ton Lunt, an experienced seaman, as navigator. Ascent was
made, without incident, the balloon drifting first to the north, and
then to the southward toward Long Island Sound.

Unhappily this voyage was brief, and very nearly tragical in its
finish. About noon the balloon entered the field of a storm of wind
and rain of extraordinary violence, and before long the cordage, etc.,
was so heavily loaded with moisture, that although practically all
available ballast was disposed of, the balloon descended in spite of
them. The speed of the balloon was so great that Donaldson did not
dare hazard a dash against some house, or into some forest or other
obstacle, but selected a piece of open ground, and advised his
companions to hang by their hands over the side of the boat and drop at
the word. The word at length given by Donaldson, both he and Ford
dropped--a distance of about thirty feet, happily without serious
injury other than a severe shaking up. Lunt, curious about the
distance and the effect of such a fall, as well as unfamiliar with the
action of a balloon when relieved of weight, hung watching the descent
of his companions--only to realise quickly that he was shooting up into
the air like a rocket. Then he clambered back into the boat. However,
it was not long before, again weighted and beaten down by the
continuing rain, the balloon descended upon a forest, where Lunt swung
himself into a tree-top, whence he dropped through its branches to the
earth, practically unhurt.

Thus ended the transatlantic voyage of the _Graphic_ balloon, a voyage
that constitutes the only serious failure I can recall of anything in
the line of his profession as an aeronaut that Donaldson ever undertook
to do. This failure is not to be counted to his discredit, for
precisely as a good soldier does not surrender until his last round of
ammunition is spent, so Donaldson did not give in until his last pound
of ballast was exhausted.

In all respects the most brilliant aerial voyage ever made by Donaldson
was his sixty-first ascension, on July 24, 1874, a voyage which
continued for twenty-six hours. This was the longest balloon voyage in
point of hours ever made up to that time, and indeed it remained a
world's record for endurance up in the air until 1900, and the
endurance record in the United States, until the recent St. Louis Cup
Race.

The ascent was made from Barnum's "Great Roman Hippodrome," which for
some years occupied the