[2] Even before some places had lifeboats, acts of gallantry at sea were rewarded by the Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, founded in 1824 by Sir William Hillary Bt., later to become the RNLI.

A boathouse was constructed on the eastern side of South Harbour, at the end of Castle street, next to the Coastguard Station, at a cost of £120.

A site was chosen on the western side of South Harbour, off Lodge Walk / Merchants Quay.

[1][2][5] On 26 December 1914, a former fishing trawler, which had been requisitioned by the Royal Navy as a minesweeper, HMS Tom Tit (H35), was wrecked on the Horseback Rock at Peterhead, during a full south-south-easterly gale.

Lifeboatman Charles Cameron died some years later of illness, aggravated by the exposure and injuries suffered in 1914.

[1][6] The Russian steamship Kiev ran aground on Rattray Head on 26 October 1916, on passage from Arkhangelsk (Archangel) to Leith with 69 crew and 22 passengers.

Showing extraordinary determination and courage, the lifeboat rescued a total of 106 lives, over a period of 75 hours.

In the first such award in Scotland for 104 years, Coxswain John Buchan McLean received the RNLI Gold Medal.

[3][1][8] In 1986, Peterhead received a new Tyne-class lifeboat, funded by The Robertson Trust, a philanthropic organisation, established in 1961 by the Robertson sisters – Elspeth, Agnes and Ethel (Babs), who donated their shares in the family businesses (drinks company Edrington) to the Trust for charitable purposes.