Lyle gun
Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a big ship like a tanker or a cruise ship? Well, when those ships come into port they need to be tied up to the dock so that they don't float away. But sometimes they are too big and too heavy for the normal ropes to do the job. That's where a lyle gun comes in.
A lyle gun is like a really big slingshot that shoots a special rope called a "breeches buoy" from the ship to the dock. The breeches buoy is like a little chair that people can sit in and be pulled back and forth between the ship and the dock. It's kind of like a zipline for people, but over water.
This was really important back in the olden days when ships didn't have engines and they had to rely on the wind and the tides to move them. Sometimes they would get stuck in bad weather or run aground on a sandbar, and the people on board would need to be rescued. The lyle gun and breeches buoy were a way to get them to safety without having to risk going out on a boat in the rough water.
So there you go, that's what a lyle gun is and how it works. Pretty cool, huh?
A lyle gun is like a really big slingshot that shoots a special rope called a "breeches buoy" from the ship to the dock. The breeches buoy is like a little chair that people can sit in and be pulled back and forth between the ship and the dock. It's kind of like a zipline for people, but over water.
This was really important back in the olden days when ships didn't have engines and they had to rely on the wind and the tides to move them. Sometimes they would get stuck in bad weather or run aground on a sandbar, and the people on board would need to be rescued. The lyle gun and breeches buoy were a way to get them to safety without having to risk going out on a boat in the rough water.
So there you go, that's what a lyle gun is and how it works. Pretty cool, huh?