The force of the shock threw him
out of his car, and he fell to the earth and died. His prudence
and knowledge were unquestionable, and his death is to be
ascribed alone to accident. It was an aerial shipwreck.
Cocking had gone up twice in Mr. Green's balloon as a simple
amateur. He took it into his head to go up a third time. He
wished to attempt a descent in a parachute of his own
construction, which he believed was vastly superior to the
ordinary one. He altered the form altogether, though that form
had been proved to be satisfactory. In place of a concave
surface, supporting itself on a volume of air, Cocking used an
inverted cone, of an elaborate construction, which, instead of
supporting him in the air, only accelerated his fall. Unhappily,
Green participated in this experiment. The two made an ascent
from Vauxhall, on the 27th of September, 1836, Green having
suspended Cocking's wretched contrivance from the car of his
balloon. Cocking held on by a rope, and at the height of from
1,000 to 1,200 feet the amateur, with his patent parachute, were
thrown off from the balloon. A moment afterwards Green was
soaring away safely in his machine, but Cocking was launched into
eternity.
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