Descent of a parachute

Descent of a Parachute. - Fatal Catastrophe. -  Mr.Robert Cocking, a landscape painter, had long had a strong desire to get up to the clouds, and come down in a parachute of his own construction. For many years he had been urging Mr. Green to allow him to descend from his balloon, but never obtained permission until Monday, 24th June. His parachute was then attached to Green's balloon; and it ascended from Vauxhall Gardens, about twenty minutes before eight. The balloon had mounted to a considerable height, Mr. Green supposes about a mile and a half from the ground; the parachute was unloosed; the balloon was observed to shoot up like an arrow, and the parachute to drop, as an eye-witness who saw it from his garden in Norwood described it, like a large stone through a vacuum.

The fate of its rash occupant was thus described at an inquest, held at the village of Lee, in Kent, on Wednesday, the 26th, on his corpse.

John Chamberlain, shepherd to Mr. Richard Norman, of Burnt Ash Farm, in the parish of Lee, said, "that on Monday last, about a quarter past nine o'clock, he saw the balloon, and something hanging from it, which presently fell. At first it came down like thunder, that is, with respect to the noise; it frightened all the sheep. It appeared to come down in a lump together, and he thought it turned over and came down on the slant. By the time it reached the ground, he had got over the hedge, so that he could see it fall. The basket, or car, touched the ground first, and the other part of the parachute fell partly upon it. The machinery was broken to pieces, and covered a large space of ground. The deceased was in the basket up to his chest, with his head out; he was lying on his back, and the basket appeared to protect the body from any weight. He could not say whether the basket came down on the edge, or the bottom. He ran and lifted up the parachute; but on seeing the deceased there, he became frightened, and let it down upon him again. He heard a groan when he first went up to him. The deceased did not move his eyes nor any part of his body; his wig lay at a short distance from his head. There was no hat. Soon after this Mr. Norman came up; and he informed that gentleman that there was a man underneath. Mr. Norman presently directed him to get two hurdles; which he did. He should say, that two or three minutes elapsed between the time the parachute left the balloon and when it touched the ground. A great many persons quickly came up."

Thomas Grisdall, another servant of Mr. Norman, saw the parachute falling:- "The parachute appeared to turn over and over; and there was a great cracking issued from it. It came down in a lump altogether. He assisted in taking the deceased out of the basket; to do which, they were obliged to unloose various ropes and some pullies. The deceased groaned, and breathed for about two minutes after he got up to him. There was no rope attached to the body that he noticed. He was insensible; and his master said he was dead, and was about to bleed him, when a surgeon came up and endeavoured to do so, but without effect. He, in the end, cut him in the temple; from which gash a few drops of blood flowed. He heard no noise, except that which was occasioned by the fall of the machine. The parachute was extended at first, but when the cracking took place, it closed, and then it came down more rapidly. The deceased had both eyes open, but they did not move."

Mr. Finch, a surgeon, said, "that he endeavoured, without success, to bleed the deceased, in several places. He saw the parachute falling; it came down aslant, like an oyster-shell diving through the water. It appeared, on an examination of the car, that the deceased pitched on his feet. The deceased had a wound on the right eyebrow of about one inch in length; but that wound did not occasion death. The wound might have been caused by the machine falling upon him. Nearly all the ribs were either fractured or displaced. The sternum seemed to have been broken and fractured the ribs. The cause of death, he should say, was the internal injuries to the chest, and the general shock to the nervous system. He had no doubt, that there was laceration in the interior. The injuries were received when he reached the ground. Indeed, he did not see what was to kill him before. They knew of cases on a railroad where there was an enormous speed without loss of life. It had been no uncommon thing for persons to travel at the rate of sixty miles an hour, without loss of life. Now, according to the statements, it was clear, that the deceased descended only at the rate of thirty; and therefore it must be perfectly apparent, that the velocity of the journey could not have caused death."

Mr. Green was examined at great length. He mentioned his own reluctance to the experiment; and the desire of the Vauxhall proprietors to prevent it, although they should have had to return the money to the visitors. He had nothing whatever to do with the construction of the parachute. The parachute was in shape an inverted cone, not very unlike an umbrella turned upside down. Its circumference was 107 feet 4 inches. From the bottom of this machine, which was constructed of fine Irish linen, a basket of wicker was suspended, in which Mr. Cocking placed himself. The distance between this basket and the car, was between forty and fifty feet. Mr. Green gave the following account of the voyage.

He stated, "that upon their arrival over Kennington common, he was desirous of throwing out loose ballast, but was prevented from doing so in consequence of the canvas tube attached to the balloon and parachute, to assist the descent of the ballast, having become disordered. He was fearful of damaging property or of injuring individuals by throwing out the ballast in bags, until after they had cleared the metropolis and suburban districts. Over Kennington common the balloon was stationary for some time; and the deceased here addressed him and his companion (Mr. Spencer) by inquiring their altitude. Mr. Green replied, that they were about a thousand feet from the surface of the earth. The deceased said, "Very well; but let me know when we arrive at about fifteen hundred feet, and at every additional five hundred, until we arrive at five thousand feet (near a mile), for that is the altitude at which I wish to descend." Mr. Green replied in the affirmative; and continued affording the deceased this required information, until they arrived at the beforementioned altitude, when the witness said, that he did not think he could ascend higher from the weight that was attached to the balloon. The deceased then said, "Very well, I shall soon leave you." After the lapse of a couple of minutes, the deceased again spoke and said, "Good bye, Green; good bye, Spencer." Witness and Mr. Spencer then seized hold of the ropes of the car, to prevent a sudden jerk, as they expected momentarily that the deceased would liberate himself. They shortly after felt a slight jerk.

He was about to quit his seat for the purpose of looking over the car, when, all of a moment, the shock was renewed, and the balloon commenced ascending with the velocity of a rocket; and then witness and Mr. Spencer became convinced, that the descent of the parachute had taken place. Such was the rapidity of the ascent of the balloon after it had been relieved of its additional weight, that for a few minutes the aeronauts were placed in imminent danger, and narrowly escaped suffocation from the descent of the gas by the pressure after the valves of the balloon had been thrown open.

Mr. Green felt convinced, that, as the parachute had resisted the pressure of air in the ascent, it would descend safely; and was surprised as well as horrified when he heard of the dreadful accident.

Throughout the whole of the experiment, Mr. Cocking was quite composed and fearless. He was sixty-one years of age; married, but without children.

The inquest which adjourned over Thursday, was resumed yesterday; and a great deal of additional evidence was given, by Professor Airey, Mr. Monck Mason, and Mr. Gye of Vauxhall Gardens. The professor described the construction of the parachute, and went into a scientific argument to prove, that it could not possibly nave resisted the pressure of the atmosphere in its descent. Mr
Mason concurred with Professor Airey. In his opinion, whether the machine had broken in the descent or not, the main result would have been the same; the insufficiency of the parachute to support the individual within the limits of velocity required by nature for the preservation of life, was the real cause of the catastrophe. The rupture of the machine was merely an accident, which had occurred during the consummation of his fate.

Mr. Gye stated the terms of the bargain with Mr. Cocking. For the first descent he was to receive nothing; for the two next 21l. each; for every subsequent descent 30l., to be made when and where the Vauxhall proprietors should require.

In reply to a question from the coroner, the keeper of the public house at Lee admitted, that he had received 10l. (in sixpences) from persons wishing to see the mangled body. The coroner said, that he understood the man had given out, that the money was to go to Cocking's widow; and he advised him to let her have it.

The following is the verdict:- "We find, that the deceased, Robert Cocking, came to his death casually and by misfortune, in consequence of serious injuries which he received from a fall in a parachute of his own invention and contrivance, which was appended to a balloon; and we further find, that the parachute as 'moving' towards his death is deodand, and forfeit to our sovereign lady the queen.

The balloon itself descended, about nine o'clock on Monday evening, in a field near Maidstone.