[2] Ever since the founding in 1824, awards for gallantry at sea were given by the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), later to become the RNLI, even if no lifeboats are involved.

On 13 February 1828, the sloop Mermaid was driven ashore at Whiting Bay, County Waterford, on passage from Newport to Cork.

On the first recorded service on 23 February 1840, Lieutenant Metherell, RN, took charge of the lifeboat, which was transported 7 miles (11 km) by hand to Ardmore, where the brigantine Medora had been wrecked whilst on passage to Swansea.

[4][7] By 1856, there had been few other service calls, and a visiting Inspector of Lifeboats found the boat in a yard, in a neglected state.

The 35-foot 6in long lifeboat had a single 35-hp Weyburn AE6 Petrol-engine, capable of delivering a top-speed of 7 knots, with a range of 116 miles.

The 35-foot 6in lifeboat was the Grace Darling (ON 927), the crew travelling over to Littlehampton to collect the boat, and arriving in Youghal in July 1971.

As a medal winning lifeboat at North Sunderland, and the last of her type, Grace Darling (ON 927) joined the RNLI Heritage Collection at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

At a ceremony on 10 September 2016, the lifeboat was named in memory of the donor's parents, E. J. Gordon and Phyllis Bull.