[2] On 10 November 1831, a coastguard officer and 10 men launched the local private lifeboat, to the aid of the brig Lady Montgomerie, which sank off Saltcoats harbour.

Ever since its founding in 1824, the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), later to become the RNLI in 1854, would award medals for deeds of gallantry at sea, even if no lifeboats were involved.

[4][5] The lifeboat and carriage were conveyed free of charge from Carlisle to Ardrossan by the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company.

[5][6] The entire cost of the station, lifeboat, carriage and equipment was met by the gift of Mr. Peter Reid of London.

On New Years Day 1871, the lifeboat launched at 10:00 to the brig Morning Star of Dublin, driven ashore on the west side of Horse Isle, in a S.S.W.

[12] At a meeting of the RNLI committee of management on Thursday 10 April 1930, it was decided that Ardrossan would be one of four lifeboat stations to be closed, the others being Hope Cove, Looe and Mevagissey.

The lifeboat on station at the time of closure, James and John Young (ON 636), was first transferred to the relief fleet, and sold out of service in 1939.