It is one of eight operational RNLI lifeboat stations situated on the Yorkshire Coast.

Filey is home to two lifeboats; a B-class (Atlantic 85), Marjorie Shepherd (B-928), and a D-class (IB1), The Rotarian (D-859).

[5] In the late spring of 1860, a hurricane hit Filey and destroyed all the boats and nets of the local fishermen.

As the damaged items belonged mostly to the men who manned the lifeboat, an appeal was made in The Times to aid in the support of the fishermen's loss of livelihood.

One of the letters written to the paper was by a local resident doctor who noted that the Filey Lifeboat [up until that point] had saved more lives at sea than any other station belonging to the RNLI in England.