Plymouth was one of the towns that received one of the Lloyds North Country-class lifeboats in the first decade of the nineteenth century, but it never saw service.

This was replaced in 1897 by a new boathouse at the Camber (at the seaward end of the wharf) with its own 130-foot (40 m) launching slip which allowed the lifeboat to get to sea more quickly.

From 1988 until 1992 the lifeboat was moored in Sutton Harbour while the area around the Princess Royal Pier was redeveloped as a marina, but it then returned to Millbay.

[7][8] Another member of the coastguard, John Woolland Bake, was awarded a silver medal for saving 25 people from the Mary Ann when it was wrecked in Bovisand Bay on 13 January 1828.

Three Royal Navy sailors, Francis Strong, Thomas Huss and Augustus May, also received silver medals for saving the 10 crew members of the Erin which struck Plymouth breakwater during a storm on 20 February 1833, and then Lieutenant Adrian Thomas Mann was similarly rewarded for saving 6 on 26 April 1833 – 2 from a barge and 4 others who had tried to rescue them but capsized.

The final silver medal awarded before the lifeboat station was established at Millbay was to Lieutenant John Cornish for rescuing 2 men from the schooner Norman when it ran aground 22 October 1843.

[7][8] On 13 January 1942, during the Second World War, the RNLB Robert and Marcella Beck was called out to a Sunderland flying boat of the Royal Australian Air Force which had been blown onto rocks in a storm.

[9] A bronze medal was awarded to Coxswain John Dare "for his courage, determination and excellent seamanship" on 16 January 1974.

Another bronze medal rescue involving the Thomas Forehead and Mary Rowse II took place on 15 February 1978.

The RNLI awarded medals to both the Coxswain, Patrick Marshall, and the Mechanic, Cyril Alcock, "for their courage, determination and seamanship".

Patrick Marshall received the same recognition for saving a fishing boat with its crew of 5 which was dragging its anchor in a storm on 6 September 1995.

To do this the Severn class lifeboat at Plymouth has an operating range of 250 nautical miles (460 km) and a top speed of 25 knots (46 km/h).