Management of the station was passed to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) on 2 August 1860.

There is only one record of service, on 10 September 1816, when two survivors of 11 crew were rescued from the brig Sutton of Dublin, on passage to Liverpool.

Lt. Kellock was appointed Honorary Secretary, and the boat, named Rescue, was housed in a wooden boathouse opposite (what is now) Coronation Walk.

[1] On 20 September 1863, Jessie Knowles launched to the aid of the barque St. Lawrence, on passage from Liverpool to Cardiff, when she ran aground on Salthouse Bank.

[7][8] The Jessie Knowles was launched to the aid of the barque Tamworth on 29 October 1863, on passage from Liverpool to Havana, when she ran aground on Trunk Hill Bank.

3 hours hard rowing were needed to reach the vessel, but eventually the lifeboat got alongside, and 17 crew were rescued.

[9][10] On the 9 December 1886, the German barque Mexico was driven ashore at Trunk Hill Brow, Ainsdale.

As it turned out, the Southport and St Annes boats need not have launched at all, as all 12 crew aboard the Mexico had already been rescued by the Lytham lifeboat.

The new boat, a 34-foot (10-oared) Self-righting lifeboat, was provided from funds from an anonymous gentleman from Lancashire, via the New Brighton branch of the RNLI, and was named Mary Anna (ON 72).

Funded from a gift of £750 from two local philanthropists, the Misses MacRae, at a ceremony on the 28 June, the boat was named Edith and Annie (ON 208).

A reserve lifeboat, The Three Brothers (ON 241), built in 1889 and formerly at Whitelink Bay, would be placed at the promenade boathouse, to be used for demonstration purposes.

[1] The last effective service of Southport lifeboat John Harling, was to the aid of the steamship Chrysopolis of Genoa on 21 February 1918.