Lot 50005 – 1837 Fatal Parachute Attempt by Cocking: Group of three eye-witness accounts and ink sketches

1837 Fatal Parachute Attempt by Cocking: Group of three eye-witness accounts and ink sketches of the failed parachute attempt from the balloon Royal Nassau, which saw Robert Cocking released from 5’000 feet with his upside-down cone-shaped parachute, descending evenly but rapidly for the first few seconds before it turned inside out and breaking up before it hit the ground; the first an A4 size sketch with the reverse giving a description of the way the ballast was released from the balloon down a tube with accompanying annotated wrapper (not posted), and two smaller sketches with one showing the balloon as it got further away saying how it occasionally oscillated and the last by Col. Gordon from who witnessed the ascent from Vauxhall Bridge, a fascinating group of accounts from this pioneering balloon flight.