At the time, the mouth of the River Tyne was particularly treacherous in poor weather, many ships lost, but many lives saved.

[2] Safety would be radically improved in later years, with the construction of the North and South Tyne Piers, building starting in 1854, but only completed in 1910.

On 4 December 1849, the Tyne Institution lifeboat Providence was launched to the aid to the brig Betsy, which had run ashore at Herd sands.

[5] It was as a result of this disaster that Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland, of Alnwick Castle, president of the RNIPLS, set a competition for the design of a Self-righting lifeboat, which was won by James Beeching of Great Yarmouth.

[5][7] Following the wreck of the Stanley in 1864, it was decided to place a second lifeboat at Tynemouth, with the RNLI building a new station at Black Middens.

Both lifeboat services would operate alongside each other until the early 1900s, often responding to the same shipwreck, one or other standing by while a rescue was performed.

A motor lifeboat was far better placed to respond, and fewer rescues were required, with the mouth of the River Tyne now protected.

A replacement station building, housing the Inshore lifeboat, launched with the use of a davit, and a mooring for the All-weather boat were provided in 1997.