[1][2] A row of cottages sit on Landdwyn island, once the home of the shipping Pilots, who would guide vessels up the Menai Strait.

They had witnessed the loss of 140 lives from the wreck of the vessel Alert in 1823, and spent the following five years raising funds and gaining support.

[2] Only one year later, on 18 October 1841, the lifeboat was called to the Mountaineer, on passage from Rio de la Hache to Caernarfon, ashore on the North Bank, 2 miles from Llanddwyn.

[6] In rough seas on 16 September 1847, the lifeboat was capsized and washed ashore, whilst on call to the Soane of Boston.

She was unable to progress, with 17 crew members ill. Five lifeboatmen went aboard, and helped take the vessel to Liverpool, arriving there the following day.

Built by Woolfe of Shadwell, it was a 32-foot self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, which cost £258-10s-0d, but was transported to Caernarfon free of charge by the London and North Western Railway company.

The boat was paraded through the town to the harbour, where it was named John Gray Bell, before being launched and rowed to her station across the Menai Strait.

[2] On 14 February 1867, the John Gray Bell went to the aid of the barque James Campbell, on passage from Demerara, British Guiana to Liverpool, which had run aground on the North Bank.