Daring Aeronaut Plunges into Puget Sound
After his balloon failed during a Seattle carnival, an aeronaut was rescued from the cold waters of the Sound by a British ship crew.
Prof. Leonard, the aeronaut who made a balloon ascension from the Woodmen of the World carnival on Wednesday night, came near meeting death in the waters of the Sound. His balloon sank into the water off Galbraith dock, from which point some fishermen heard the cries of the aeronaut. They went to his assistance in rowboats and discovered the balloon but could not trace the man. They gave him up for lost and boatmen along the waterfront became alarmed. In a short time, however, the daring balloonist was brought to shore by a crew from the British ship Belford, to which he had drifted on a log. On sinking, Leonard cleared himself from the tangle and swam to the log, reaching it in an exhausted condition. A carriage conveyed the balloonist, uninjured, back to his tent in the carnival enclosure.
“On sinking into the water Leonard cleared himself from the tangle and swam to the log, reaching it in an exhausted condition.”
Aeronautics were a centerpiece of early 20th-century civic pageantry, often pushing the limits of safety for public entertainment. While the Woodmen of the World carnival grounds have long been repurposed, the danger of the Puget Sound waters remains a constant for any waterborne transport or recreation in the region.
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