The redundant Lifeboat Building was acquired from the RNLI by The Wick Society and has become the winter home of the Isabella Fortuna. This provides a sheltered environment for repairs and restoration and has the necessary workshop facilities for these tasks.

The seas around Caithness can be very stormy and lifeboats have played a vital role in safety at sea.

The first lifeboat at Wick was provided by the British Fishery Society following 'Black Saturday' when 18 boats were lost and 37 men drowned trying to reach the harbour during a severe summer storm on 18 August 1848.

The Wick Lifeboat, 'City of Edinburgh' - (1938 to 1968), was launched 133 times and saved 204 lives.

The present lifeboat 'The Roy Barker II' can be seen in the harbour. She is Wick's eleventh lifeboat and the eighth to be provided by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.