The Great Balloon from a sketch by Robert Hollond Esq.

Robert Hollond, T. Monck Mason, and Charles Green ascended in the Vauxhall Balloon from Vauxhall Gardens at one o’clock in the afternoon on November 7, 1836, and descended in Weilburg in Nassau, at seven thirty the next morning. Following this journey, the balloon became known as the Nassau Balloon. The city of Liege in Belgium was among those passed during the night. The details of this trip are written in Monck Mason’s "Aeronautica" (1838).

Charles Green (1785-1870) was one of the 19th century’s most celebrated aeronauts. He made over 500 ascents in his career, primarily in his native England. These ascents included the first voyage in a balloon filled with coal-gas. Most of Green’s ascents were made in his Royal Vauxhall Balloon, built in August, 1836. Among these was the 18 hour, 480 mile journey from Vauxhall Gardens in London to Nassau in Germany. Charles Green was also involved in the tragic death of amateur parachutist Robert Cocking, whose fatal descent was made from the Nassau balloon piloted by Green. He retired from ballooning in 1852.