Just thought to tidy this one up, Snow.

He was imprisoned by the Brtish which is what might have inspired your booze and tell post.

I dispute he was the inventor. Another bloke parachuted his dog in 1785.

Also he only survived as a matter of luck. There was no top vent as in all parachutes now so he would have swayed further and further eventually spilling the wind.

André-Jacques Garnerin (January 31, 1769 - August 18, 1823) was the inventor of the frameless parachute. He was born in Paris.

His early experiments were based on umbrella-shaped devices. He was captured by British troops during the first phase of the Napoleonic Wars 1792 - 1797, turned over to the Austrians and held a prisoner in Buda in Hungary for three years.

After his release, Garnerin was involved with the flight of hot air balloons. He carried out the first jump with a Silk parachute on October 22, 1797, jumping out of a balloon over Parc Monceau, Paris. After a descent of 3,000 feet (900 m), he landed without injury in front of an admiring crowd. On October 3-4 1803, he covered a distance of 245 miles (395 km) between Paris and Clausen with his balloon.