A district association was formed in 1824 as part of the new National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (as the RNLI was known at the time) and a lifeboat for Mount's Bay was again stationed at Penzance from 1826 a couple of years and then permanently from 1853.

[5][6] On 19 December 1981 the Solomon Browne was launched to go to the aid of the MV Union Star after its engines failed 8 miles (13 km) east of the Wolf Rock.

[7] Winds were gusting at up to 90 knots (100 mph; 170 km/h) – hurricane force 12 on the Beaufort scale – and whipping up waves 60 feet (18 m) high.

Wreckage from the Solomon Browne was found along the shore, and the Union Star lay capsized onto the rocks west of Tater Du Lighthouse.

It proved difficult to find enough volunteer crews in this small village, so the station was closed in 2001 and a larger B-class boat was added to the complement at Penlee, with a new boathouse built to house it.

[16] Coxswain Trevelyan Richards was posthumously awarded the RNLI gold medal after the disaster in 1981, while the remainder of the crew (James Madron, Nigel Brockman, John Blewett, Charles Greenhaugh, Kevin Smith, Barrie Torrie and Gary Wallis) were all posthumously awarded bronze medals.

[17] In 1936, Coxswain Frank Blewitt was awarded a RNLI bronze medal for rescuing the crew of nine from the SS Taycraig after it ran aground in Mount's Bay during a gale.

They took the W and S out into 30 feet (9.1 m) seas to rescue eight people from HMS Warspite (03) which ran aground on the way to the breakers yard after it had been retired at the end of the Second World War.

'[19][20] In January 1975, the Solomon Browne was launched into a Force 12 hurricane when it was reported that the 13 crew members of the MV Lovat had abandoned ship 24 miles (39 km) south west of Lizard Point.

[10][21] On 16 December 1994, the Mabel Alice and the Sennen Cove Lifeboat were launched to the aid of the Julian Paul which was adrift in a storm west of the Longships.

Neil Brockman, the Coxswain/Mechanic of the Penlee Lifeboat, was awarded a RNLI bronze medal for his seamanship, leadership and meritorious conduct, as was Terry George, his counterpart from Sennen Cove.

[22] Brockman was later presented with a 'Framed letter of thanks from the Chairman' for leading the rescue of an injured sailor from a French tanker in high seas on 21 December 1999.