Meaning of life-arrow | Babel Free

Definitions

A stick with a line attached that was fired from a musket to a ship that had foundered.

historical

Examples

“Colonel Delvigne, of the French army, invented a life-arrow, to be fired from an ordinary musket.”

“Numerous life-arrows, kites and similar devices have been invented to carry lines to wrecked vessels, but none has proved superior to the Lyle gun.”

“There was a contrivance for rendering the rope visible to the crew, and another to assist those on shore to descry the exact position of the ship in distress. The life-arrow, a cue-shaped stick of mahogany, with the thinner end projecting beyond the end of the barrel, is fired from an ordinary musket, and can carry 80 yards with a mackerel line attached.”

CEFR level