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The first ascent of Roziers and Arlandes was a feat of hardihood almost unique. The men's courage was, so to speak, their only guarantee. Thanks to the balloon, however, they accomplished one of the most extraordinary enterprises ever achieved by our race.
"But the intrepid Roziers, who never lost his head, and who judged more surely than I, prevented me from attempting to descend. I then threw a bundle of straw on the fire. We rose again, and another current bore us to were now close to the ground, between two mills. As soon to the left.
The fire of the Montgolfiere might, he probably supposed, be so regulated as to enable him to rise or fall at will. This mixed system has been justly blamed. It was simply "putting fire beside powder," said Professor Charles to Roziers; but the latter would not listen, and depended for everything on his own intrepidity and scientific skill of which he had already given so many proofs.
Roziers conjured, supplicated, agitated in a hundred ways for permission to try the first voyage. He moved the town and the court; he addressed himself to those who were most in favour at Versailles; he pleaded with the Duchess de Polignac, who was all-powerful with the king. She warmly supported his cause before Louis.
A violet flame appeared at the top of the balloon, then spread over the whole globe, and enveloped the Montgolfiere and the voyagers. "The unfortunate men were suddenly precipitated from the clouds to the earth, in front of the Tour de Croy, upwards of a league from Boulogne, and 300 feet from the sea beach. "The dead body of Roziers was found burnt in the gallery, many of the bones being broken.
On Sunday, Montgolfier chose a fine day for the following ascents: "First Ascent: On the 19th of October, 1783, at half-past four, in presence of two thousand spectators, 'the machine' was filled with gas in five minutes, and Roziers, being placed in the gallery with a counterbalancing weight of 110 lbs. in the other side of the gallery, was carried up to the height of 200 feet.
The adventurers were cordially welcomed by the ecclesiastics and the magistrates of the place, and after a time they, with their balloon, were carried back on men's shoulders to Dijon. Experiment in Montgolfiers Roziers and Proust The Duke of Chartres The Comte d'Artois Voyage of the Abbe Carnus to Rodez.
The Marquis d'Arlandes, a major of infantry, afterwards went up with Roziers, and this latter experiment was as successful as the former." Some days after these experiments the conductors of the Journal de Paris who described them, received a letter from Montgolfier, and also one from Gerond de Villette. The latter only is of interest here.
Roziers was again lifted up in the balloon, to the height of eighty feet; but so strong was the wind, and the strain on the ropes was so great, that the balloon was somewhat unsteady, and the exhibition was not on the whole such a splendid success as that of the preceding Wednesday.
With what majesty did it strike my imagination. Never did man appear to me before such an excellent being His latest triumph over the elements recalled to my mind his other conquests of nature. My companion was animated with the same sentiments, and more than once we cried out, 'Vive Montgolfier! Vive Roziers! Vivent ceux qui ont du courage et de la constance!