The Creole Case was an incident that occurred on November the 7th 1841 when seventeen Negroes rose against the officers of the American brig 'Creole' which was bound from Hampton Roads to New Orleans carrying a cargo of slaves. One of the vessel's owners was killed, and the vessel was captured and sailed into Nassau where everyone was set free except those charged with murder. The US demanded the return of the prisoners, but this demand was refused by Great Britain until the matter was finally resolved by a treaty signed on August the 9th 1842. During the negotiations, J R Giddings of Ohio offered a series of resolutions which laid down the fundamentals positions of the American anti-slavery party. Research Creole Case
Albert I was Duke of Austria and Emperor of Germany. He was born in 1248 and died in 1298. The son of Rodolph of Hapsburg, on the death of his father in 1292 he claimed the empire, but his arrogant conduct drove the electors to choose Adolphus of Nassau emperor. Adolphus, after a reign of six years, having lost the regard of all the princes of the empire, Albert was elected to succeed him. A battle ensued near Gellheim, in which Adolphus fell by the hand of his adversary, who was elected and crowned. PopeBoniface VIII, however, refused to acknowledge him as emperor, and ordered the electoral princes to renounce their allegiance to him. On the other hand, Albert formed an alliance with Philip le Bel of France, and offered so determined and successful a resistance to the papal authority that Boniface was induced to withdraw his opposition, on condition that Albert would break with his French ally. During the subsequent years of his reign the emperor was engaged in unsuccessful wars with Holland, Hungary, Bohemia, and other states. His measures to still further strengthen his authority over the Swiss Forest Cantons of Unterwalden, Schwyz, and Uri drove the inhabitants into open revolt in January 1308. While on his way to crush the Swiss he was assassinated, at Aix-la-Ohapelle in 1298, by his nephew, John, Duke of Suabia, whose inheritance he had seized upon.
Sir Francis Bond Head was a British soldier and writer. He was born in 1793 and died in 1875. He was present at the Battle of Waterloo, being in the royal engineers; in 1825 undertook the working of gold and silver mines in Rio de la Plata; in 1835 became governor of Upper Canada, and in 1838 suppressed the Canadian insurrection, and was made a baronet. He was the author of Bubbles from the Brunnen of Nassau, Rough Notes of Rapid Journeys across the Pampas, A Faggot of French Sticks, The Horse and his Rider, etc. Research Francis Head
Baron Heinrich Friedrich Karl von Stein was a German statesman. He was born in 1757 at Nassau and died in 1831. After studying law at Gottingen, he entered the Prussian service where he rose quickly and rendered great service to King Frederick William III between 1804 and 1806. In 1807 he was dismissed for urging the establishment of a responsible cabinet, but resumed office as minister of the interior.
Denounced by Napoleon Bonaparte for his politics, Heinrich von Stein escaped arrest by fleeing to Bohemia and in 1812 went to St Petersburg at the request of Tsar Alexander I. After the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 he presided over the commission for the control of occupied territory.
He worked hard at the Congress of Vienna to secure a consolidation of Germany before retiring to private life. Research Heinrich von Stein
John Van Olden Barneveldt was grand pensionary of Holland during the struggle with Philip II of Spain. He was born in 1549 and died in 1619. After the assassination of William of Orange, and the conquest of the south provinces by the Spaniards under Parma, he headed the embassy to secure English aid. Finding, however, that the Earl of Leicester proved a worse than useless ally, he secured the elevation of the young Maurice of Nassau to the post of stadtholder, at the same time by his own wise administration doing much to restore the prosperity of the state. After serving as ambassador to France and England, he succeeded in 1607 in obtaining from Spain a recognition of the independence of the States, and two years later in concluding with her the twelve years' truce. Maurice, ambitious of absolute rule and jealous of the influence of Barneveldt, was interested in the continuance of the war, and lost no opportunity of hostile action against the great statesman. In this he was aided by the strongly-marked theologic division in the state between the Gomarites (the Calvinistic and popular party) and the Arminians, of whom Barneveldt was a supporter. Maurice, who had thrown in his lot with the Gomarites, encouraged the idea that the Arminians were the friends of Spain, and procured the assembly of a synod at Dort in 1618 which violently condemned them. Barneveldt and his friends Grotius and Hoogerbeets were arrested, and subjected to a mock trial; and Barneveldt, to whom the country owed its political existence and the commons their retention of legislative power, was beheaded on May the 13th, 1619. His sons four years later attempted to avenge his death; one was beheaded, the other escaped to Spain. Research John Barneveldt
Aeronautics is the art of sailing in or navigating the air. The first form in which the idea of aeriallocomotion naturally suggested itself was that of providing men with wings by which they should be enabled to fly. By about 1905, however, it was generally admitted that it is impossible for man by his muscular strength alone to give motion to wings of sufficient extent to keep him suspended in the air. Hence later attempts at aerialnavigation structures of a different kind were generally tried, such as some sort of flying car, elevated and propelled by machinery which eventually gave rise to the modern aircraft, or a vehicle so buoyant as to float in the air, the balloon being the most common. Early pioneers in flight encountered one great difficulty in that of supporting in mid-air a sufficient weight of machinery to provide the necessary power for propelling and steering purposes.
The navigation of the air by means of the balloon dates only from nearly the close of the eighteenth century. In 1766 Henry Cavendish showed that hydrogen gas was at least seven times lighter than ordinary air, and it at once occurred to Dr. Black of Edinburgh that a thin bag filled with this gas would rise in the air, but his experiments were for some reason unsuccessful. Some years afterwards Tiberius Cavallo found that a bladder was too heavy and paper too porous, but in 1782 he succeeded in elevating soap-bubbles by inflating them with hydrogen gas. In this and the following year two Frenchmen, the brothers Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, acting on the observation of the suspension of clouds in the atmosphere and the ascent of smoke, were able to cause several bags to ascend by rarefying the air within them by means of a fire below. These experiments roused much attention at Paris; and soon after a balloon was constructed under the superintendence of Professor Charles, which being inflated with hydrogen gas rose over 3000 feet in two minutes, disappeared in the clouds, and fell after three quarters of an hour about fifteen miles from Paris. These Montgolfier and Charles balloons already represented the two distinct principles in respect to the source of elevating power for balloons, the one being inflated with common air rarefied by heat, requiring a fire to keep up the rarefaction, the other being filled with gas lighter at a common temperature than air, and thus rendered permanently buoyant. Both forms were used for a considerable time, but the greater safety and convenience of the gaseous inflation finally prevailed. After the use of coal-gas had been introduced it superseded hydrogen gas, as being much less expensive, though having a far less elevating power.
The first person who made an ascent in a balloon was Pilatre de Rozier, who ascended 50 feet at Paris in 1783 in one of Montgolfier's. A short time afterwards M. Charles and M. Robert ascended in a balloon inflated with hydrogen gas, and travelled a distance of 27 miles from the Tuileries; M. Charles by himself also ascended to a height of about two miles. Since then a multitude of ascents and aerial voyages were made, with, strange to say, comparatively few disastrous results in the early years. Among the names of the earlier balloonists we may mention Lunardi, who first made an ascent in Great Britain in September 1784, unless we assign this honour to J. Tytler (' Balloon' Tytler), who seems to have made two short ascents from Edinburgh in the preceding month; Blanchard, who, along with the American Dr. Jeffries, first crossed the Channel from Dover to Calais, in January 1785; Garnerin, who first descended by a parachute from a balloon in October 1797; and Gay Lussac, who reached the height of 23,000 feet in September 1804.
In 1836 a balloon carrying Messrs. Green, Holland, and Mason traversed the 500 miles between London and Weilburg in Nassau in eighteen hours. In 1859 Mr. J. Wise, the chief of American aeronauts, accompanied by several others, rose from New York, and landed, after a flight of 1150 miles, in twenty hours. In September 1862, the renowned aeronaut, Mr. Glaisher, accompanied by a Mr. Coxwell, made an ascent from Wolverhampton, and reached the estimated elevation of 37,000 feet, or 7 miles, a height far greater than any other then attained, if it can be depended on as exactly ascertained. But the aeronauts were for a time in great peril, Mr. Glaisher having become insensible, and Mr. Coxwell having his hands so severely frozen that he was unable to pull the valve for descent, and was compelled to use his teeth. Early aeronauts were clearly unaware of the thinning of the atmosphere and dramatic reduction in temperature with altitude. It is claimed that the first greatest really authentic height-35,000 feet-was attained by two German aeronauts at Berlin in 1901. The most daring early attempt at an aerial voyage was that of the Swede, Andree, who, with two companions in 1897 ascended from Spitzbergen in hopes of reaching the North Pole, their fate remaining unknown.
All the features of the ordinary balloon as now used are more or less due to Professor Charles, already mentioned. Early balloons were usually a large pear-shaped bag, made of pliable silk cloth, covered with a varnish of caoutchouc dissolved in oil of turpentine to render it air-tight. The ordinary size ranged from 20 to 30 feet in equatorialdiameter, with a proportionate height, but balloons of far greater dimensions were also constructed. A car, or basket, generally of wicker-work, supported by a network which extends over the balloon, contained the aeronaut; and a valve, usually placed near the top, and to which is attached a string reaching the car, gave him the power of allowing the gas to escape, whereby the balloon lowered at pleasure. A quantity of sand ballast in small bags was usually taken, and when the balloon tended to descend too far sand was thrown out and it rose again. The guide-rope, a long and heavy rope trailing over the ground, was sometimes used when the country was such that no serious damage would result from its trailing. The principle of this device was that as the balloon tended to rise it must lift more of the rope off the ground, while when the balloon sunk it was relieved of so much weight, and thus it tended to float at one level above the ground.
The problem of how to steer or propel a balloon in a desired horizontal direction was an early issue and numerous attempts at producing navigable balloons were made at the start of the 20th century. In a navigable balloon to be propelled through the air by some kind of motor, against the wind if necessary, the familiar balloon shape was departed from as quite unsuitable, and the 'air-ship' usually of an elongated form and more or less cylindrical or cigar-shaped adopted. A design still used a hundred years later.
Balloons of a fish or cigar shape, floated by gas, and propelled by a screw driven by a dynamo-electric machine, and steered by a large rudder, made several ascents in Paris in 1884 and 1885; and being generally able to return to the starting-point, at the time it was claimed for them that they had settled the question of balloon steerage, but it was several years before the matter was settled. The names of CountZeppelin and M. SantosDumont became well known in connection with such balloons. In 1897-1900 the former constructed a huge cylindrical air-ship of great length, with parabolic ends, divided into a number of separate chambers filled with hydrogen gas and these enclosed in an outer air balloon, the whole being braced and made rigid by an aluminium framework, and the means of propulsion being screws driven by Daimler petrol motors and fixed to the longitudinal axis of the air-ship. The success of this great structure, even after various improvements were introduced, appears to have been only partial, and want of sufficient funds brought operations to a stop for a while. M. SantosDumont constructed several navigable balloons, and one of them was so successful at Paris in 1901 as to gain a prize of 100,000 francs. On this occasion his airship made the journey from St. Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back again, a distance of about 9.5 miles, in half an hour. M.M. Lebaudy of Paris also made some very successful trips with a dirigible balloon ; that is, one that can be steered or directed-to some extent at least.
In 1903-4 a large air-ship was constructed by Dr. F. A. Barton at Alexandra Park, London. This structure had a bamboo framework suspended below it, connected with which was the propelling machinery, two engines each of 4.7 ihp, driving a series of fans, there being a large square sail serving as a rudder. In 1905 an improved form of this air-ship was experimented with, the name Barton-Rawson air-ship, 'designed for the War Office', later being given to it. In this form it consisted of a silkballoon 180 feet long and 40 in diameter, with a bamboo car 127 ft. long and 18 ft. high, carrying a 50-horsepower motor at either end driving four propellers 7 ft. in diameter and revolving at a high speed, the total weight being about 14,000 lbs. Ascents made in July 1905 were not very successful, the air-ship driving with the wind and being unable to take a course of its own. The British War Office expressed its readiness to give an order for an air-ship on certain conditions, one being that it must be able to turn in a circle of 100 yards radius.
Besides balloons, which are lighter than a corresponding volume of air, and air-ships depending on the same principle, various apparatus were constructed for aerialnavigation that are heavier than the air at the start of the 20th century at a time when the feasibility of attaining success with such was supported by the flight of birds, many of which are decidedly heavy compared with their expanse of wing. Some of these apparatus were intended more for gliding or soaring through the air than for actual flight, having somewhat the nature of a huge bird with outstretched wings, beneath which a man attached himself, and on springing from a height gradually descends to the bottom - an idea revisited some years later for the hang-glider.
The kite, or structures on the same principle, were much experimented with, and it was found considerable weights can be raised and carried in this way. The kite rises in the air if drawn along by its string, and if instead of drawing it along a propeller is fitted to drive it through the air it ought to ascend in the same manner. Hence the invention of the aeroplane, which shows a large flat surface contrived to float nearly horizontally in the air, but with the front edge very slightly raised, so that in being propelled rapidly along it receives the pressure of the air on the under side, the air thus tending to counteract the force of gravity. Sir H. S. Maxim in 1894 constructed a huge machine with main and several subsidiary aeroplanes, propelled by two large screws driven by steam-engines of 300 hp, and able to rise with a great weight. As a model, at least, Prof. Langley's aerodrome had some success, flying through the air a distance of three-quarters of a mile. It had two rigid pairs of wings about 12 ft. in width, with large screw-propellers between them driven by a small steam-engine. Aviation is the term applied to attempts at flight otherwise than by balloons.
Manned balloons were successfully used for taking meteorological and military observation from the end of the 19th century. The latter class of balloons were usually 'captive' balloons - balloons that are kept by a rope from going farther than is desired, and that can be drawn back at will. Their use was only really suited for fairly calm weather and in certain circumstances. The balloon may have had a telephone connection with the earth below. There was a balloon service in the British army, the duties falling upon the Royal Engineers. Since about 1900 small captive and other balloons have sent up for purely scientific purposes, unaccompanied by any person, but provided with self-recording thermometers, barometers, etc., by which valuable facts have been ascertained. Some of these early balloons reached heights of 60,000 or 70,000 feet. During the siege of Paris in 1870-71 over sixty persons (including Gambetta) and innumerable letters left the city in balloons. Research Aeronautics
The Florida was an American Confederate cruiser fitted out in England in 1862, and sailing at first under the name of the Oreto. She proceeded immediately to Nassau, in the Bahama Islands, and was twice seized, but eventually escaped. Her name was then changed to the Florida and for two years during the American Civil War she did great damage to the Union cause all along the coast and among the West Indies. She was captured and sunk on October the 7th, 1864, in the Brazilian harbour of Bahia, by the Union vessel Wachusett under CaptainCollins, who surprised her when she was unprepared for battle. Research Florida
The USS Nassau was an American light fleet aircraft carrier of 7800 tons displacement converted from a mercantile hull and launched in 1942. The USS Nassau was powered by Foster Wheeler type boilers providing a top speed of 16 knots and carried a complement of 650 and 21 aircraft. She was armed with one 5 inch gun; sixteen 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. Research Nassau
The USS Nassau is an American Tarawa Class amphibious assault ship of 39300 tons displacement fully loaded launched in 1978. The USS Nassau is powered by two Combustion Engineering boilers providing a top speed of 24 knots and a range of 10000 miles at 20 knots. She carries a crew of 930 including 56 officers plus 1703 troops plus landing craft, 19 CH-53D Sea Stallion or 26 CH-46D/E Sea Knight helicopters or Harrier AV-8B aircraft in place of helicopters and 1200 tons of aviation fuel. Armaments consist of two Raytheon GMLS Mk 25 octuple missile launchers taking the Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile; two FMC 5 inch/54 Mk 45 dual-purpose guns; six Mk 242 25 mm automatic cannons and two General Electric/General Dynamics 20 mm/76 6-barrelled VulcanPhalanx Mk 15 anti-aircraft guns. Research Nassau II
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Creole Case
