A site for a boathouse and slipway had been granted by landowner Lt. F. Charley, and a lifeboat house was constructed at Leabgarrow, at a cost of £420.

[3] A 37-foot lifeboat had been transported by rail to Liverpool, and then shipped free of charge aboard a vessel of the Belfast Steamship Company to Derry, from where it was towed to its station by a H.M. Coastguard cruiser, arriving in November 1883.

Sergeant Patrick McPhillips, of the Royal Irish Constabulary, put out in a small boat with two other men, and rescued the man.

[5] In 1893, the slipway was extended at a cost of £225, but from 1901, the lifeboat was stored on the beach at Rannagh Point on Rossillion Bay for service during winter.

(ON 962) put out at 19:45 on 29 November 1966, into a north-west gale and rough seas, to transfer a serious ill boy with acute appendicitis from Tory Island to Burtonport.

Coxswain Philip Byrne was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal, with the "Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum" accorded to the rest of the crew.

[5][7] Tyne-class lifeboat 47-009 William Luckin (ON 1111) was called to the assistance of the fishing boat Locative on 9 March 1990, which had suffered engine failure in a force-9 gale.

[9] For the rescue of the sole occupant of the yacht Nephele on 2 July 2005, in seas in excess of 10 metres (33 ft) in height, and south westerly gale force 10/11 winds, "The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum"" was accorded to Coxswain Anthony Kavanagh, and "A Collective Letter of Thanks, signed by the Chairman of the Institution", was presented to the rest of the crew.

[11] In the early hours of 7 December 1940, the 3,500 ton Dutch steamer Stolwijk, on convoy duty, with a crew of 28, was forced on to a reef of rocks to the east of Tory Island.

Twice the anchor failed, needing the line to be re-established, but eventually, over a period of 4 hours, the 18 men aboard the Stolwijk were rescued.