[AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM WILLIAM GOODWIN REQUESTING DONATIONS FROM THE NEW HAVEN AND HARTFORD RAILROAD IN SUPPORT OF A HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT BY ERNEST PÉTIN]

Goodwin, William: [Pétin, Ernest]

Verlag: New Haven, 1852

[1]p. autograph letter, signed, on a folded folio sheet. Old folds. Light staining and wear. Very good plus. A brief letter from William Goodwin, a New Haven publisher and agent, addressed to Martin L. Sykes, superintendent of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad (H. & N.H.R.R.). Goodwin informs Sykes that "Mons. Pétin" is planning a hot air balloon ascent in New Haven, and requests a small financial contribution of seven dollars from the H. & N.H. R.R. "Since, as when he ascended in Bridgeport, it is expected that there will be a great influx of strangers. All the other R.R. Companies, have contributed liberally toward the expenses of the ascent." Goodwin writes that, as the agent of Pétin, "permit me to ask what sum you will be pleased to contribute toward the expense of the ascent." The implication seems to be that since there would be increased ridership on H. & N.H.R.R. trains, the railroad should kick some money back to the performer. The Hartford and New Haven Railroad was the first major railroad built in Connecticut, and has remained one of the state's most important and heavily trafficked lines since. Ernest Pétin was a French balloonist who made several less-than-successful ascents in New England in the early 1850s. When Pétin's ambitious designs for a system of mass transit by balloon found no support in France, he left to seek new opportunities in the United States in 1852. Arriving in Boston, Pétin set about dazzling the American populace with a series of mostly failed ascents. The July 1852 flight from Bridgeport which Goodwin describes was cut short when Pétin's balloon collided with a telegraph line and was destroyed, and by October two more flights from Bridgeport had drifted out to sea, each with rescue crews sent from Long Island to retrieve Pétin and his companions. Trying his luck further south, a flight from New Orleans on Christmas of that year ended in yet another water landing for the unfortunate aeronaut. There does not appear to be any record of Pétin setting off from New Haven, but if funding was secured we can only assume it went about as well as his other attempts. A concise but interesting letter shedding light on an early air balloon pioneer's adventures in America. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM57658

Bibliografische Details

Titel: [AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM WILLIAM ...
Verlag: New Haven
Erscheinungsdatum: 1852