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Authors: Jules Verne
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rifles,
with their requisite supply of powder and ball.
Here is the summing up of his various items, and their
weight, as he computed it:
Ferguson……………………… 135 pounds.
Kennedy………………………. 153 "
Joe………………………….. 120 "
Weight of the outside balloon…… 650 "
Weight of the second balloon……. 510 "
Car and network……………….. 280 "
Anchors, instruments, awnings,
and sundry utensils, guns,
coverings, etc………………. 190 "
Meat, pemmican, biscuits, tea,
coffee, brandy………………. 386 "
Water………………………… 400 "
Apparatus…………………….. 700 "
Weight of the hydrogen…………. 276 "
Ballast………………………. 200 "
——-
4,000 pounds.
Such were the items of the four thousand pounds that Dr.
Ferguson proposed to carry up with him. He took only two
hundred pounds of ballast for "unforeseen emergencies,"
as he remarked, since otherwise he did not expect to use
any, thanks to the peculiarity of his apparatus.
CHAPTER EIGHTH.
Joe's Importance.—The Commander of the Resolute.—Kennedy's
Arsenal.—Mutual Amenities.—The Farewell Dinner.—Departure
on the 21st of February.—The Doctor's Scientific Sessions.—
Duveyrier.—Livingstone.—Details of the Aerial Voyage.—Kennedy
silenced.
About the 10th of February, the preparations were
pretty well completed; and the balloons, firmly secured,
one within the other, were altogether finished. They had
been subjected to a powerful pneumatic pressure in all
parts, and the test gave excellent evidence of their solidity
and of the care applied in their construction.
Joe hardly knew what he was about, with delight. He
trotted incessantly to and fro between his home in Greek
Street, and the Mitchell establishment, always full of business,
but always in the highest spirits, giving details of the
affair to people who did not even ask him, so proud was
he, above all things, of being permitted to accompany his
master. I have even a shrewd suspicion that what with
showing the balloon, explaining the plans and views of the
doctor, giving folks a glimpse of the latter, through a
half-opened window, or pointing him out as he passed along
the streets, the clever scamp earned a few half-crowns, but
we must not find fault with him for that. He had as
much right as anybody else to speculate upon the admiration
and curiosity of his contemporaries.
On the 16th of February, the Resolute cast anchor near
Greenwich. She was a screw propeller of eight hundred
tons, a fast sailer, and the very vessel that had been sent
out to the polar regions, to revictual the last expedition
of Sir James Ross. Her commander, Captain Bennet, had
the name of being a very amiable person, and he took a
particular interest in the doctor's expedition, having been
one of that gentleman's admirers for a long time. Bennet
was rather a man of science than a man of war, which
did not, however, prevent his vessel from carrying four
carronades, that had never hurt any body, to be sure, but
had performed the most pacific duty in the world.
The hold of the Resolute was so arranged as to find a
stowing-place for the balloon. The latter was shipped
with the greatest precaution on the 18th of February, and
was then carefully deposited at the bottom of the vessel in
such a way as to prevent accident. The car and its accessories,
the anchors, the cords, the supplies, the water-tanks,
which were to be filled on arriving, all were embarked
and put away under Ferguson's own eyes.
Ten tons of sulphuric acid and ten tons of iron filings,
were
with their requisite supply of powder and ball.
Here is the summing up of his various items, and their
weight, as he computed it:
Ferguson……………………… 135 pounds.
Kennedy………………………. 153 "
Joe………………………….. 120 "
Weight of the outside balloon…… 650 "
Weight of the second balloon……. 510 "
Car and network……………….. 280 "
Anchors, instruments, awnings,
and sundry utensils, guns,
coverings, etc………………. 190 "
Meat, pemmican, biscuits, tea,
coffee, brandy………………. 386 "
Water………………………… 400 "
Apparatus…………………….. 700 "
Weight of the hydrogen…………. 276 "
Ballast………………………. 200 "
——-
4,000 pounds.
Such were the items of the four thousand pounds that Dr.
Ferguson proposed to carry up with him. He took only two
hundred pounds of ballast for "unforeseen emergencies,"
as he remarked, since otherwise he did not expect to use
any, thanks to the peculiarity of his apparatus.
CHAPTER EIGHTH.
Joe's Importance.—The Commander of the Resolute.—Kennedy's
Arsenal.—Mutual Amenities.—The Farewell Dinner.—Departure
on the 21st of February.—The Doctor's Scientific Sessions.—
Duveyrier.—Livingstone.—Details of the Aerial Voyage.—Kennedy
silenced.
About the 10th of February, the preparations were
pretty well completed; and the balloons, firmly secured,
one within the other, were altogether finished. They had
been subjected to a powerful pneumatic pressure in all
parts, and the test gave excellent evidence of their solidity
and of the care applied in their construction.
Joe hardly knew what he was about, with delight. He
trotted incessantly to and fro between his home in Greek
Street, and the Mitchell establishment, always full of business,
but always in the highest spirits, giving details of the
affair to people who did not even ask him, so proud was
he, above all things, of being permitted to accompany his
master. I have even a shrewd suspicion that what with
showing the balloon, explaining the plans and views of the
doctor, giving folks a glimpse of the latter, through a
half-opened window, or pointing him out as he passed along
the streets, the clever scamp earned a few half-crowns, but
we must not find fault with him for that. He had as
much right as anybody else to speculate upon the admiration
and curiosity of his contemporaries.
On the 16th of February, the Resolute cast anchor near
Greenwich. She was a screw propeller of eight hundred
tons, a fast sailer, and the very vessel that had been sent
out to the polar regions, to revictual the last expedition
of Sir James Ross. Her commander, Captain Bennet, had
the name of being a very amiable person, and he took a
particular interest in the doctor's expedition, having been
one of that gentleman's admirers for a long time. Bennet
was rather a man of science than a man of war, which
did not, however, prevent his vessel from carrying four
carronades, that had never hurt any body, to be sure, but
had performed the most pacific duty in the world.
The hold of the Resolute was so arranged as to find a
stowing-place for the balloon. The latter was shipped
with the greatest precaution on the 18th of February, and
was then carefully deposited at the bottom of the vessel in
such a way as to prevent accident. The car and its accessories,
the anchors, the cords, the supplies, the water-tanks,
which were to be filled on arriving, all were embarked
and put away under Ferguson's own eyes.
Ten tons of sulphuric acid and ten tons of iron filings,
were
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