La Ville d'Orléans just clears the waves off Mandal en route to Lifjell. The illustration belongs to The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and has fallen into the open.
Two men from Paris blew through the air for 15 hours. They didn't get where they were going, but to Seljord. The war-important message, which was the reason for the journey, was to be carried only a few miles outside the French capital.
The gondola they traveled in can be seen in a new exhibition now being set up at The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology .
The balloon ride is a thriller, so read on…
So, back to the adventurous journey:
After descending into a snowdrift, balloon driver Rolier barely managed to free Bèzier from the ropes of the gondola before it flew on to Krødsherad, without a crew. When the crew dropped a few meters to the ground, they had no idea where they were. Lifjell was definitely not where they were going.
In Paris they ate rats during the German blockade
The first air journey over Norway was a result of the Franco-German war [1] . Paris was besieged by Prussian forces. The communication and supply lines had been cut. People in Paris were starving. Dogs, rats and horses had become part of the Parisian kitchen, but this supply also dwindled.
Parts of the government had escaped the siege and stayed in the city of Tours, south-west of Paris. Here they planned to raise a new army force, which could be deployed against the siege. The plan was for the new army to attack the Prussians from the outside, while the forces in Paris made an attack from the inside. The operation required careful coordination, and it was therefore important to get information to and from Paris.
The first two air travelers over Norway
Two men were ready for the task. The person who was to lead the balloon was the newly married 29-year-old engineer Paul Rolier. The other was the passenger Léon Bézier. Rumor has it that the latter had problems with the law. We can only speculate as to how pleased Rolier's newly married wife was that he was going on such a risky expedition.
Rolier and Bezier landed in a snowdrift on Lifjell. The illustration is in the collections of The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and has fallen into the open.
Secret weapon
Day and night, women and men had been working to make hot air balloons in the main train station in Paris, Gare du Nord. That's how they were supposed to get messages out of Paris. After all, the trains could not run as long as the city was blocked, and the large station was well suited to this work.
Important war notice
With the message sewn into Bezier's undershirt, they flew off in balloon No. 33, La Ville d'Orléans. They also had many other letters with them in the balloon. The departure took place on 24 November 1870 at 23.50. The hope was to get to Tours as quickly as possible. On 25 November at At 14.25 the trip ended instead at Lifjell. It must have been quite a letdown, literally.
The wind sent the balloon wild
The winds were certainly not on their side. It started so well when they got rid of sandbags to ascend and the shots fired at them were too far away to hit. But instead of landing a few miles from Paris and handing over war notices and mail, they traveled for 15 hours before landing on a deserted mountain in Norway.
Almost engulfed by the wet element
Along the way, they had nerve-wracking close contact with the sea outside Mandal. What they thought was the sound of railways turned out to be foaming waves. They saw a ship. According to the reports, they thought it could be the rescue. Attempting to land, they realized it was becoming too dangerous. The speed was too great and they sank too quickly. Therefore, they had to resolutely throw a large sack of mail overboard to get free from the waves, and the journey continued.
The montage shows how the balloon probably approached Lifjell. Photomontage by photographer Ø.O.Kaasa, Seljord at the beginning of the 20th century.
A strenuous meeting with Norway
When they finally landed, they probably realized that it was a long way from their destination. But where they were, they could not know. In those days, you didn't have a mobile phone in your pocket with GPS and maps, like we have today.
November was snowy and cold, and the men were not dressed for hiking in the mountains. Bezier eventually almost had to drag Rolier along with him. In a lull, they rested a bit before fighting their way again. When they got to a cabin, they met Klas and Harald Strand. In the cabin, they got a, for them, exotic meal. Roast pork, flat bread with goat's milk was enough food to make them feel very far from home, even if the diet in Paris during the blockade was not exactly to be desired. The coffee they were served, however, was the very confirmation that it was a civilized country they had come to.
Aha, French, aha, La Norvège
With the help of a print on Rolier's shoe, which said Paris, and a matchbox, which said Christiania, they understood, despite major language barriers, that two Frenchmen had ended up in Norway. For the French, Norway was probably also a fairly exotic place "far away". [1] The messengers of the important war message were then helped to get to Christiania, or Kristiania, which began to become the spelling for the capital in the 1870s.
Where have we landed, they must have thought. Without being well dressed or prepared for the winter mountains, a difficult journey to the nearest people awaited. The illustration is in the collections of The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and has fallen into the open.
Celebrated as heroes
On the way, they were invited to dinner by important people in the area. Some of them knew French, so the conversation probably flowed a little easier than it had with the Strand brothers.
French flags in Norwegian windows
Then it was on to Kongsberg, and past the fabulous Heddal stave church. Since the rumor had run before them they were honored when they arrived. Homemade French flags were hung in many windows.
Scared the hell out of me
Rolier and Bezier then took the Randsfjord line from Hokksund to Drammen. There they were reunited with the contents of the gondola. They got back the letters, their personal belongings and the six carrier pigeons that had made the journey from Paris. The bag of letters, which they had had to throw into the sea to save themselves at Mandal, had also been taken care of. They learned that the balloon and gondola had landed in Krødsherad at the farm Sandum by the Noresund. There it had almost scared the life out of two elderly women. Reportedly, they believed that the devil himself came from heaven.
Finally a message came to Tours
Since the Drammensbanen had not yet been built, they traveled by horse and cart to the capital. When, after a long journey, they finally arrived in Kristiania, the next day, at 1230, they went straight to the French consulate. From there, messengers were sent to Tours. The content of the message about how the forces were to be united probably did not come out because the French attempt to break the blockade on 30 November did not seem particularly organised.
Telegrams from around Norway
The hero status of the two men was steadily increasing, and in Kristiania a number of telegrams from near and far had been collected. One of the expressions of sympathy came all the way from Tromsø. In such a short time, people had found out about the matter. Even though they had neither internet nor mobile phones.
But how did communication take place in 1870?
It wasn't until ten years later that the telephone was put into use. Let us therefore take a small leap to the side and shed light on the communication revolution the telegraph brought with it. Before the telegraph, you had to communicate via something physical, such as a letter written on paper. This had to be transported by some means of transport. Perhaps on horseback, or simply on foot? In 1848, the world's first telegraph line opened in the United States. In Norway, the communication adventure began on 1 January 1855 with a telegraph line between Oslo and Drammen. More and more lines were built and in 1870 the telegraph lines reached Vardø. Aha, so the Telegraph could transmit messages over long distances using signals that could be converted into text. Therefore, the rumor of this journey could reach so far in such a short time.
Balloon driver Rolier had probably not expected that the winds would carry him and passenger Bezier all the way to Telemark. Photo: Norwegian Folk Museum
Banquet with Jonas Lie and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Since Rolier and Bézier had become A-list celebrities during their short time in Norway, the citizens of Kristiania thought that a banquet was natural. Reportedly, 1,000 people attended. A student choir performed a song by Jonas Lie, and Bjørnstjene Bjørnson himself gave a speech during the celebratory dinner.
To London and on to the tunes of the Marseillaise
Finally came the departure for the homeland. On Thursday 1 December, North Star dropped anchor in Kristiania. First stop was Kristiansand. Then the journey to London went on the next day. They then traveled by train to Southampton and arrived in St. Malo in France on 8 December. Then they had been traveling for 14 days!
What significance did the wind have for world history?
There are many questions that arise after this story.
Coincidences caused an important message to go astray:
Could developments in Europe and the world have been completely different if France had broken the blockade and defeated the Prussians?
If Germany's unification had thus taken a different course -- what then of the First World War, and others?
The balloon that wildly sets the imagination in motion and makes it possible to imagine a Europe with a completely different history.
By Kathrine Daniloff, Communications Manager at The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology
[1]https://snl.no/Fransk-tyske_krig
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_fransk-tyske_krig
[1] If we go back 30 years, the French researched Norway . This took place between 1838 and 1840, and the Recerche expedition was very likely known among the French. Therefore it was perhaps easy for the men to understand that Christiania was part of Norway.
Passenger Bezier reportedly had problems with the law and one can only speculate as to how he was recruited for the mission. That the men did not know each other from before, that is in any case clear. Photo: Norwegian Folk Museum
