How many people could you save from a sinking boat using a Lyle gun? In the late 19th century, members of the U.S. Coast Guard would stand on shore and fire the line-throwing gun invented by a military man named David Lyle. The basic act of firing the gunpowder-packed gun could knock it back 6 feet and send waterproof, braided line nearly the length of six football fields. That line would sail toward (and, hopefully, onto) the vessel in distress. A “life car” would then be sent out on the line, to collect people and bring them ashore.
“The specificity that the Coast Guard has to locate you by GPS, put a helicopter
