All eight crewmen of the lifeboat Solomon Browne died after they set out from Mousehole, Cornwall on December 19, 1981, in a fierce storm to try to rescue the crew of cargo ship Union Star.
Union Star had suffered engine failure and was being blown on to the rocks at Penlee Point.
The weather was so bad that the crew of a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter from RNAS Culdrose was unable to lift any of the eight cargo ship crew.
The Solomon Browne's coxswain William Richards made several attempts to get alongside and managed to rescue four people who jumped from Union Star's wheelhouse on to the lifeboat.
The lifeboat made a further attempt to rescue the remaining four when radio contact was lost. The vessel's last message was: "We've got four off at the moment".
Ten minutes later the lights disappeared. The lifeboat had been wrecked with the loss of her crew of eight. There were no survivors.
No sign of Solomon Browne was ever found. Union Star parted from its anchor and was lost with all hands.
The anniversary was marked yesterday when the Christmas lights in Mousehole were turned off at 8pm for an hour.
Lights in the shape of a white cross were turned on above the village on the hillside and the RNLI flag at the old lifeboat station, from where the Solomon Browne left, flew at half mast.
The RNLI lifeboat crew at Lyme Regis also held a service last night at their boathouse on The Cobb. The ceremony was attended by former and current members of the lifeboat station and their families.