"IT is of spherical form, made of lute string silk, and presents a beautiful appearance hating alternate stripes of crimson and white connected at the centre by a zone richly decorated in the Grecian style." Thus goes a contemporary description of the hydrogen filled balloon in which William Sadler became the first person successfully to fly across the Irish Sea. The voyage took place 179 years ago today, on July 22nd, 1817.
Man's conquest of the air could be said to have begun at Annonay in France in 1783 when the Montgolfier brothers sent an unmanned hot air balloon to a considerable height. Shortly afterwards, their compatriot, Jaques Alexandre Charles, launched a balloon filled with the newly discovered hydrogen, and a new form of terrestrial exploration had arrived.
By January, 1785, the English Channel had been crossed by Jean Pierre Blanchard, and for Irish aeronauts the premier challenge was the Irish Sea.
A balloon flight to Wales from Dublin ought to be an easy matter, bearing in mind the prevailing westerly nature of our winds, but such was not the case. The first to try was a Frenchman called Potain, who in June, 1785, after a short sally in the right direction, drifted due south to the Wicklow mountains to sink ignominiously to earth at Roundwood.
Next to try was Richard Crosbie, who made his attempt the following July: after a bumpy start from Leinster Lawn, he headed in the right direction, but had to be rescued from the sea mid channel.
It was a quarter of a century before the next endeavour. This time it was James Sadler, an English aeronaut who came to Dublin specially to try his luck.
With great pomp and ceremony he ascended from the grounds of Belvedere House in Drumcondra in October, 1812. His objective was not just to cross the Irish Sea but to land in Liverpool.
Sailing north east he reached the Isle of Man where, changing altitude, he found a northwesterly wind to bring him over Wales.
At the last moment, however, another change of wind blew him out to sea again, snatching victory from his grasp: he ditched his balloon, and submitted to rescue by a passing ship.
Five years late, James's son, William Sadler, succeeded in accomplishing the feat. On July 22nd, 1817, he ascended from Portobello Barracks in a balloon 70 feet in diameter, and after a trouble free and uneventful voyage of six hours he landed in a cornfield two miles from Holyhead on Anglesea. His was the only recorded successful landing after a crossing of the Irish Sea by air until the advent of the aeroplane a century later.