In 1816 travel to Paris would normally take 73 hours from London, but the relatively new hot-air ballooning craze meant this could be cut to ten hours! Sadly, we do know not if this undertaking was successful, nor could we find a picture of the dolphin-shaped balloon – one can only imagine!
‘TRAVELLING IN A BALLOON. – A Mr. Egg, of the Strand, (a German,) has nearly completed a balloon, in the shape of a dolphin, for the avowed purpose of carrying the nobility and gentry to Paris, and subsequently elsewhere. It is to be made capable of conveying from 15 to 20 persons to Paris in the short space of 10 hours or less: it is worked by steam, and the wings are intended to act as rudders. The journey from London to Paris by Dover, is now performed in 73 hours: viz. 12 hours to Dover; 7 hours (upon the average) to wait at Dover; 6 hours (average) the passage; 48 hours to Paris, supposing a traveller sets off without taking any rest; total, 73 hours. This scheme, if carried into execution, bids defiance to the usual exactions of innkeepers, the customary search of custom-house officers, and all the ordinary impediments which so frequently annoy sensitive travellers. Mr. Egg is prosecuting this undertaking in a building in Brompton. – Observer.’
Stamford Mercury, 23rd August, 1816.