ort over the rapid
ascent was mainly due to the fact that, when Robert landed, he forgot to
compensate for the reduction of weight by taking in further ballast,
but the ascent proved the value of the tube at the bottom of the balloon
envelope, for the gas escaped very rapidly in that second ascent, and,
but for the tube, the balloon must inevitably have burst in the air,
with fatal results for Charles.

As in the case of aeroplane flight, as soon as the balloon was proved
practicable the flight across the English Channel was talked of, and
Rozier, who had the honour of the first flight, announced his intention
of being first to cross. But Blanchard, who had an idea for a 'flying
car,' anticipated him, and made a start from Dover on January 7th, 1785,
taking with him an American doctor named Jeffries. Blanchard fitted out
his craft for the journey very thoroughly, taking provisions, oars, and
even wings, for propulsion in case of need. He took so much, in fact,
that as soon as the balloon lifted clear of the ground the whole of the
ballast had to be jettisoned, lest the balloon should drop into the sea.
Half-way across the Channel the sinking of the balloon warned Blanchard
that he had to part with more than ballast to accomplish the journey,
and all the equipment went, together with certain books and papers that
were on board the car. The balloon looked perilously like collapsing,
and both Blanchard and Jeffries began to undress in order further to
lighten their craft--Jeffries even proposed a heroic dive to save the
situation, but suddenly the balloon rose sufficiently to clear the
French coast, and the two voyagers landed at a point near Calais in
the Forest of Gaines, where a marble column was subsequently erected to
commemorate the great feat.

Rozier, although not first across, determined to be second, and for
that purpose he constructed a balloon which was to owe its buoyancy to
a combination of the hydrogen and hot air principles. There was a
spherical hydrogen balloon above, and beneath it a cylindrical container
which could be filled with hot air, thus compensating for the leakage of
gas from the hydrogen portion of the balloon--regulating the heat of
his fire, he thought, would give him perfect control in the matter of
ascending and descending.

On July 6th, 1785, a favourable breeze gave Rozier his opportunity of
starting from the French coast, and with a passenger aboard he cast off
in his balloon, which