The Royal National Institution for Preserving Life from Shipwreck (as the RNLI was then known) provided a lifeboat at Portland in 1826 but it was withdrawn in 1851.

The rescue of five crew members from the yacht Dehra resulted in the award of a Bronze Medal to lifeboatman Donald Laker in 1965.

Pitman was awarded a silver medal and all the crew – both regular volunteers and the fishermen – received recognition for their work that day.

A Bronze Medal was awarded to Coxswain/Mechanic Derek Sargent for leading the rescue on 16 October 1987 of the crew of five from the catamaran Sunbeam Chaser during a storm off Portland Bill.

At the top of the gable is a date stone carved '1924' to commemorate when the building was modified for the arrival of its first motor lifeboat, the Samuel Oakes.

This is a long, low building that opens immediately onto a wide slipway down which the ILB is pushed on its carriage to reach the water.

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