The Lyle Lifesaving Gun

[LTG]

The Lyle Lifesaving Gun

Lyle Gun-A line-throwing gun is a short-barreled cannon designed to fire a projectile attached to a rope to a boat or victim in distress

One of the first actions of Superintendent Kimball, the first and only superintendent of the US Life-Saving Service, was to find a better line-throwing device. Kimball realized he needed the best artillery expertise available, so he engaged the help of the Army Board of Ordnance, and in 1877 they assigned Lt. David A. Lyle to identify or develop a suitable line-throwing gun. Lyle developed 3 bronze, smooth-bore guns of different sizes, and the 2 ½-inch-bore gun became the USLSS standard.

 

(Source: Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes)

The Lyle Gun consisted of three basic items: 1) The Gun, 2) the Shot and 3) Shot Line:

Ships running aground in heavy seas could be lost within sight of safety, with the wild surf making rescue by small craft impossible. Soon after Congress authorized a Federal agency to operate coastal facilities in 1871, attention turned to making improvements in lifesaving apparatus. Assigned to this task, ordnance officer David A. Lyle developed a small cannon that shot a projectile, to which a light line was attached, to a stranded vessel. The ship’s crew pulled progressively heavier lines from shore or another ship; then a breeches buoy suspended from a rope carried one person at a time from the ship to safety.  (Source: Springfield Armory)

Once the shot line was fired to a vessel in distress, a Breechs Buoy apparatus was rigged and the crew could be rescued

 

(Source: Schoonerman.com)

YouTube Lyle Gun Demonstration:

[EX-CG-GM]

Yeah, I remember how hard it was to get all the shot line properly coiled back onto the spools.........     

[LTG]

Yeah, I remember how hard it was to get all the shot line properly coiled back onto the spools.........     

You mean "faking box" right Stan... 

Shot Line & Faking Box:
The shot line is tied to the projectile and is the first line to reach the shipwreck. This is the thinnest line used in the drill and is stored in a special pattern the faking box. This special pattern allows it to pay-out freely as the gun is fired. After the drill, the shot line is returned to the box by carefully laying it in the faking pattern ensuring that it is ready for the next use.  Source: USLSS.Org

[EX-CG-GM]

OK, so the memory is slipping a bit.......

[Bill]

Remember the Lyle Gun and the Beach Cart. We used it in an attempted rescue in Michigan City in early 61.

[JerryM]

Remember the Lyle Gun and the Beach Cart. We used it in an attempted rescue in Michigan City in early 61.

My first actual emergency billet was Beach Cart crew at CG Base Galveston in 1960. YES! we used a Lyle Gun.