On Wednesday, 2 December 1829 the Dundee Advertiser reported that: 

… at a meeting of the Tay Steam Packet Co., held yesterday, a number of Gentlemen formed themselves into a committee for procuring, by subscription, what has long been a desideration here - a life boat. The subscription was commenced and will, we trust, be speedily filled up. 

Two weeks later, on the strength of £80 by then raised and promises of more donations, a Greathead-style lifeboat was ordered from Robson of South Shields at a cost of £130. The shed and launching rails cost a further £206.  

Thirty feet long and crewed by twelve pulling oarsmen and two steering oarsmen, the first lifeboat was stationed next to the leading lights at Buddon Ness, as close as possible to the point of greatest danger, the shifting sandbanks that line the river’s mouth. 

The RNLI took over the management of the River Tay lifeboats in December 1861 and the first boatshed on the present site in Fisher Street, Broughty Ferry, was built the following year. The old Buddon Ness lifeboat station closed in December 1893.