Chicago Maritime Museum
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
  • EVENTS
  • LEARN
    • ONLINE STORIES
    • COMMERCE
    • MILITARY TRAINING
    • SHIPWRECKS
    • RECREATION AND TOURISM
  • VISIT
  • SUPPORT US
    • DONATE >
      • CMMFestival ANNUAL APPEAL
      • GENERAL FUND
      • THIRD FRIDAY LECTURES
      • IN MEMORIAM DONATIONS
      • SPONSOR
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • VOLUNTEER
  • News
  • Contact Us
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
  • EVENTS
  • LEARN
    • ONLINE STORIES
    • COMMERCE
    • MILITARY TRAINING
    • SHIPWRECKS
    • RECREATION AND TOURISM
  • VISIT
  • SUPPORT US
    • DONATE >
      • CMMFestival ANNUAL APPEAL
      • GENERAL FUND
      • THIRD FRIDAY LECTURES
      • IN MEMORIAM DONATIONS
      • SPONSOR
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • VOLUNTEER
  • News
  • Contact Us
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

Lyle gun

Lyle gun

Developed in 1877 by David A. Lyle, an Army Lieutenant, as a line-throwing short-barreled cannon designed to fire a projectile attached to a rope to a boat or victim in distress near the shore.

Projectiles for the gun were made of cast iron with a wrought iron eye bolt screwed into the base as an attachment point for the waterproofed braided linen line that had been carefully flaked in a special pattern in a flaking box to allow it to pay out freely. 

The messenger line fired to the distress site was then tied to a heavier line that was supported on land by an A frame crotch pole high enough to clear the surf so that a person could be transported to shore by a pulley on the line attached to a Breeches buoy. 

The Lyle Gun could shoot the projectile about 700 yards, although in actual rescues the practical range was much less. 

Follow Us

Facebook     
​Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn
Youtube
TripAdvisor
eVisitor Guide
Clio
​Email

Learn

Online Stories
   ​​WPA Mural
   Henry C. Grebe and Co.
​   The Christmas Tree Ships​

Commerce
​Military Training
Shipwrecks
Recreation and Tourism
​Chicago Maritime Museum is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit registered in the US under Tax ID 36-3205719

Chicago Maritime Museum®. ​Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office