The dedicated meteorologist in the second half of the 19th century required courage and a head for heights. Since recording instruments were not yet available it was not uncommon for scientists to mount conventional equipment in the gondola of a hot air balloon, and ascend to great heights in their eagerness to find out more about the thermal and barometric structure of the upper atmosphere. The conditions were unpredictable and often dangerous; for Walter Powell they proved fatal.
Walter Powell MP was a keen amateur meteorologist. One hundred and twenty years ago today, on December 13th. 1881, he ascended in the hot air balloon Saladin from Bath in England accompanied by his pilot, Captain James Templer, and a youth called Agg Gardner. The launch was at 2 p.m., and the objective was to observe temperature and humidity at various levels in the atmosphere, and to "measure the amount of snow in the air for the Meteorological Office." All went well at first. By 5 o'clock, however, the balloon was drawing close to the south coast of Devon, driven by a strong northerly wind, and the aviators were in danger of being carried out over the Channel. Two miles from the coast, Captain Templer decided to attempt a landing, despite the now gale force wind. Just 150 feet from the edge of the cliff, the basket bumped against the ground; Templer was thrown out, young Gardner jumped, and the unfortunate Powell was left alone in the craft - now rising rapidly because of the reduced weight. It was last observed heading briskly southwards across the English Channel.
It was an Irishman who broke the news officially. Robert Henry Scott was a Dublinman, born in 1833, who by this time had risen to become Director of the British Meteorological Office. On the following day Scott found himself obliged to pen a poignant letter to the Permanent Secretary of the British War Office: "I regret to have to inform you that on Saturday afternoon last the balloon Saladin was caught by a gust of wind on the coast at Bridport, broke away, and was carried out to sea. Up to the present time no tidings have been obtained of the balloon or of its occupant".
Nor were they ever.
The ballooning tragedy had a sobering effect on the meteorological community of the day. It highlighted the dangers inherent in this type of research, and brought to an effective end the use of manned balloons for the experimental investigation of the atmosphere. Development work thereafter concentrated on self-recording instruments which could be carried safely aloft by unmanned balloons and kites.