[3] In a full gale on 17 October 1862, the sloop Cygnet of Portsmouth ran aground on Woolsiner Sandbank.

Dropping anchor, and launching their small 13 feet (4.0 m) rowing boat, they managed to rescue the three crewmen aboard the Cygnet.

For their efforts, William Goldring, James Spraggs and David Farmer were each awarded the RNLI Silver Medal.

[4][5] On 14 January 1865, Major Francis W. Festing of the Royal Marine Artillery, led a team of 10 fisherman men aboard a Fort Cumberland Cutter, and rescued 3 survivors from the schooner Ocean, on passage from Charlestown, Cornwall to Sunderland.

The lifeboat was ready in September 1865, and after trials on the Regent's Canal, the boat was transported to Havant free of charge by the London and South Western Railway.

The station was officially opened on 13 September 1865, with the boat being named Olive Leaf, and then blessed by Ashurst Gilbert, the Bishop of Chichester.

[7] On 1 February 1869, the Olive Leaf was launched to the aid of the barque Lady Westmorland, on passage from South Shields to Cartagena, Spain, when she was driven ashore at Hayling Island.

In 1922, more modern and faster motor lifeboats were placed at Selsey, to the south-east, and at Bembridge, to the south west on the Isle of Wight.

A Land Rover was used to launch the lifeboat, which was powered with a single 40 hp Evinrude outboard motor.

On a training exercise, red flares were seen, fired from the Cabin cruiser Andrew John, having suffered engine failure.

The new station, which incorporated the old structure, was completed in November 2007 and included a new boat hall with an upper storey.

It arrived on station in 2015 and is an IB1 type boat powered by a 50hp outboard engine giving her a top speed of twenty five knots.