This 60-mile (97 km) route up the Great Glen Fault between Oban and Inverness allowed vessels of a modest size to cut off the dangerous route around north-west Scotland through the Pentland Firth and around Cape Wrath, instead emerging out onto the Beauly and Moray Firth to the North Sea.

In 1992, with increasing leisure traffic on the canal, and in the local area, with the nearest (All-weather) lifeboat some 20 miles (32 km) away at Invergordon, the RNLI Management Committee decided to create a new Inshore lifeboat station at North Kessock, ideally situated between the Beauly and Moray Firths, just to the east of the Caledonian Canal sea lock at Clachnaharry.

[4] After 8 years of operations, a purpose built boathouse was constructed a little further to the east at Craigton Point, designed to accommodate a much larger twin-engined Atlantic-class lifeboat and its launch tractor.

[3] At a ceremony on Friday 7 June 2002, Kessock boathouse was officially opened, and the new B-class (Atlantic 75) lifeboat was named Moray Dolphin (B-771).

[1][5] On 11 January 2014, Moray Dolphin (B-771) was withdrawn to the relief fleet, and Kessock received the new larger B-class (Atlantic 85) lifeboat.