On 11 August 1907, for the inauguration of the Place de Milan in Lausanne, Louis Kaeser, a balloonist, took to the skies to put on an aerial show with his balloon, the Ouragan. Inflated with town gas (900m3), he took two passengers: Mr Von Blotzheim from Saint-Blaise and Mr Margot, a mechanic from Neuchâtel. It was flying over the Lavaux hills when the Bise (wind) began to rise. Within minutes, the balloon was swept into the middle of Lake Geneva. It was impossible to stop its mad course or to land. A violent gust of wind quickly brought the Ouragan down. The gondola touched the water. The balloon was at Rivaz, more than 4 km from the Swiss shore. It was 6 o'clock and there was nothing more the balloonist could do. Splash! The balloon lay on the lake. Is there any hope for its occupants?
The "Fram" of the Lutry Rescue Service was returning from a trip to St-Gingolph, 3.5 km from the shipwrecked men. These rowers, on light boats, set off to rescue them. Seeing that the balloon was rising, they stopped their frantic race, thinking that their help was no longer needed. However, they heard the cries of the shipwrecked, so they set off again. The "Fram" was the 1st on the scene and rescued the shipwrecked. The hardest part was still to come: towing the balloon back to Rivaz.
Other boats from La Tour-de-Peilz came to lend a hand, along with Mr Moser's motorboat from Cully. A gust of wind came up. The balloon was caught in the wind and carried the boats and their 32 rowers in the opposite direction at more than 20 km/h! The rescuers changed tactics; some of the boats made it back to the Swiss coast, while the others took the shipwrecked crew and the balloon to the Savoy coast. It was at one o'clock in the morning, after two hours of effort, that they finally managed to reach the shore between Meillerie and Evian.
Tired and exhausted, having not eaten since midday, the rowers treated themselves to a well-deserved snack in St-Gingolph before setting off again. The 2 teams from Cully and Lutry returned to their respective towns singing, to avoid falling asleep on the oars.
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Photo credit : Lake Geneva Museum
