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I experienced neither very intense cold, nor headache, nor difficulty
of breathing; neither, I find, did Mr. Mason, nor Mr. Holland, nor Sir
Everard. Mr. Osborne complained of constriction of the chest--but this
soon wore off. We have flown at a great rate during the day, and we
must be more than half way across the Atlantic. We have passed over
some twenty or thirty vessels of various kinds, and all seem to be
delightfully astonished. Crossing the ocean in a balloon is not so
difficult a feat after all. Omne ignotum pro magnifico. Mem: at
25,000 feet elevation the sky appears nearly black, and the stars are
distinctly visible; while the sea does not seem convex (as one might
suppose) but absolutely and most unequivocally concave.(*1)
"Monday, the 8th. [Mr. Mason's MS.] This morning we had again some
little trouble with the rod of the propeller, which must be entirely
remodelled, for fear of serious accident--I mean the steel rod--not
the vanes. The latter could not be improved. The wind has been blowing
steadily and strongly from the north-east all day and so far fortune
seems bent upon favoring us. Just before day, we were all somewhat
alarmed at some odd noises and concussions in the balloon, accompanied
with the apparent rapid subsidence of the whole machine. These phenomena
were occasioned by the expansion of the gas, through increase of heat in
the atmosphere, and the consequent disruption of the minute particles of
ice with which the network had become encrusted during the night. Threw
down several bottles to the vessels below. Saw one of them picked up by
a large ship--seemingly one of the New York line packets. Endeavored to
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