A lifeboat station was first established at Filey in 1804. The station was taken over by the RNLI in 1852 and they erected a new lifeboathouse. In 1890, the third lifeboathouse to built in Filey was opened. In the late spring of 1860, a hurricane hit Filey and destroyed all the boats and nets of the local fishermen. As the damaged items belonged mostly to the men who manned the lifeboat, an appeal was made in The Times to aid in the support of the fishermen's loss of livelihood. One of the letters written to the paper was by a local resident doctor who noted that the Filey Lifeboat had saved more lives at sea than any other station belonging to the RNLI in England. In 1966, when the first D-Class Inshore Lifeboats were being introduced, D-86 was sent to Filey and operated from a separate lifeboathouse to the All-Weather Lifeboat. In 1991, the main lifeboathouse was rebuilt again so that it could accommodate both a large All-Weather Lifeboat and an Inshore Lifeboat together.
Notable incidents
24 September 1935 – a trawler named Skegnessran aground just by the cliffs at Speeton. Initially the captain of the vessel said that all was fine and he would await the high tide to re-float the ship. But unfortunately, before high tide arrived, the weather deteriorated. Within an hour, the wind had strengthened to gale force from the east and was driving the sea to the shore. At 11:10 pm, the skipper of the Skegness was calling for help and the Filey Lifeboat was launched. Due to the swell, they couldn't get near, so the Lifeboat was launched, but they were given the wrong location and headed for Filey Brigg. The Lifeboat was also launched, but just like the Filey Lifeboat, she couldn't get near enough. The Rocket Brigade tried firing their rockets to the ship, which was only below them, but the fierce wind forced the rockets back onto the cliff; in fact the wind was so strong, that the Rocket Brigade crew had to crawl to the clifftop on their hands and knees. The lights on the ship were observed going out at 1:30 am the following morning. In all, eleven sailors died, some of their bodies washed up onto the shore in the days after the tragedy, but most were never found.
23 June 1974 – the motor mechanic on the station collapsed and died during a launch.
