Linda Stratmann is the author of the Mina Scarletti Mysteries and the Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes series.
Sherlock Holmes and the Aeronauts is set in 1879, at which time there had never been a successful crossing of the Channel from France to England by balloon due to unfavourable wind currents. One of the key themes in my book is a proposed competition to be first to make such a flight, with a large prize for the winner.
Some histories of ballooning include only brief accounts of the first east-to-west Channel flight which was made in 1883 by a Monsieur L’Hoste. Some histories do not even mention him. I determined to find out more about this neglected pioneer of aviation.
François L’Hoste was born in Paris on 2 August 1859, the second son of a well-to-do manufacturer of wrought iron goods. Aged twenty, he entered the aeronautical academy as a voluntary student, where he impressed his instructors with his skill, composure and courage. He was particularly inspired by a stirring lecture on the use of balloons during the siege of Paris, and the heroism of aerial experiments. His instructors had only one criticism: he was too eager — his enthusiasm and passion for adventure could barely be tempered even by the wisest advice.
The year 1883 was an important milestone in aviation history, the centenary of the first public demonstration of the Montgolfier hot air balloon. That May, during an ascent from St Omer in his gas balloon, L’Hirondelle, L’Hoste formed a new and all-consuming ambition. On arriving at Calais, he had encountered a southeast wind, which carried him over the Channel to within eight or nine miles of the English coast. A change in the wind reversed his direction, and he eventually landed in Holland. He was convinced that if he could locate and make use of favourable currents, it should be possible to cross from France to England. He shared this information with his friend and fellow enthusiast Monsieur Eloy, and they agreed to make the attempt on 5 June.
Their new balloon was named Pilâtre de Rozier in honour of the aeronaut who had first attempted the east-to-west crossing in 1785 in a hybrid hot air and hydrogen balloon. On that occasion, the balloon made little progress from Boulogne, before it was blown back over land. Soon afterwards it caught fire and plunged to earth. De Rozier and his associate, Romain, were both killed.
L’Hoste’s first attempt at a crossing was postponed due to an unfavourable wind. When he and Eloy set off on 6 June, they were heartened to find a southeast current, but it soon disappeared and they were carried back to France. After going back and forth twice more through torrential rain and fog, they made a hard landing in Lottinghen, east of Boulogne.
This failure only increased their determination. The next attempt was on 7 June, and L’Hoste decided that his chances would be better if he reduced the load by carrying only one man. He went alone. After some hours, his location largely obscured by fog, he descended for a better view. There was a large city below, and he thought he was in England, but on reaching land, he discovered he was in Dunkirk. Taking off once more, he soared above the clouds, hoping to detect where he was by the sound of waves, as he could see almost nothing through the fog. The balloon descended rather more than he intended, and he kept throwing out ballast until there was none left. The basket ditched in the sea and overturned, tipping L’Hoste into the water, where he tried to keep hold of the collapsing fabric of the balloon. Luckily, a sailing ship appeared on the scene. His cries for help were heard, and a rowboat was sent to rescue him. Soaked and exhausted, he stayed on board the ship for three days and he and his balloon were landed at Flushing.
On 14 July he tried again, but the winds were once more against him as he sailed through darkness and storms. After colliding with some treetops, he was carried across a canal and finally came to rest on some railway tracks. He barely had time to pull the basket off the line before the Rotterdam to Flushing express sped past. Two railway employees came to help him.
His next attempt on 13 August 1883 again ended in the sea, where he was rescued by a Dutch steamer, which took him to Amsterdam.
On 9 September, still confident of success, he started from Boulogne in a new balloon, the Ville-de-Boulogne. Descending sufficiently to enquire of some fishermen as to which level of current blew from the east, he continued to Cap Gris Nez, then descended into the easterly current. A little later, he saw the lighthouses of Dover. At 10.15 at night, he crossed the English coast and finally came to rest in a meadow. All around him were sheep. He decided to eat some pâté, sleep, and wait for daylight.
He was discovered in the morning by a shepherd called James Austin, and since neither spoke the other’s language, they were obliged to communicate with gestures. Austin eventually brought L’Hoste back to his farmhouse, where he met the family and was given tea. He was in Ruckinge, Kent. A farm wagon was hitched up to carry the balloon to the nearest railway station at Smeeth. L’Hoste arrived at Folkestone and a ship took him to Boulogne, where he was able to give the good news. English newspapers which had previously referred to L’Hoste’s repeated failures with some amusement, gave far less space to his success, although the Kent Times records both his voyage and discovery on a sheep farm.
L’Hoste’s crossing was no fluke. He repeated it on 7 August 1884. Then, on 29 July, 1886, he made the crossing a third time, accompanied by a new associate, Joseph Mangot. (Monsieur Eloy had made an ascent from the coastal town of Lorient on 14 July 1885 and was swept out to sea and lost.)
Joseph Mangot was born in Montdidier on 17 January 1867. He and L’Hoste made several ascents with the intention of experimenting with extended voyages, assisted by small satellite balloons to provide extra gas. In July 1886 they made a Channel crossing together from Cherbourg in a new balloon, Le Torpilleur (Torpedo boat). L’Hoste had already envisioned the possibility that balloons might be used for warfare and on the way, he demonstrated this by throwing artificial torpedoes onto passing ships. In England they launched artificial torpedoes at the docks and arsenals of London, before seeking a landing place.
Their departure for a longer flight to Eastern Europe took place on 6 November 1887. Le Torpilleur had been refurbished and renamed L’Arago after the astronomer François Arago. A passenger who travelled with them went only as far as Quillebeuf, and on 13 November, L’Hoste and Mangot headed out across the sea. They may have lost their bearings in the darkness, and it is thought they crossed the English Channel and passed quickly over the narrow Cornish peninsula into the Bristol Channel, and thence into the Atlantic. Neither L’Arago nor the young adventurers were ever seen again.
No pioneer is entirely forgotten. In 1896, a monument to L’Hoste and Mangot was erected in le Jardin des Tintelleries Boulogne. A modern hybrid balloon, which combines hot air and helium, is known as a Rozière.
References
La Catastrophe du Ballon l’Arago by Wilfrid de Fonvielle (Paris, 1888, Spectateur Militaire) This publication also includes Mes Ascensions Maritimes by François L’Hostehttps://archive.org/details/lacataastrophed00fonvgoog/page/n8/mode/2up
Traversée de la Manche de Cherbourg à Londres by Jospeh Mangot, précedée par La Préface d’un Frère (Paris, 1888, Spectateur Militaire)https://archive.org/details/traverseedelama00manggoog/page/n12/mode/2up
Kent Times, Saturday 15 September 1883, page 6, and other contemporary newspapers.
1881 English census: James Austin, shepherd and family, registration district East Ashford, Piece 949, folio 45 page 1.
