All Hands to the Pumps
Henry Scott Tuke, RA, RWS (1858-1929)
1888-89
Oil on canvas
Support: 1854 × 1397 mm; frame: 2243 × 1805 × 105 mm
Collection: Tate, NO1618
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1889
As the gale whips and shreds the tattered sails, a sailor hollers to his mates on the rigging to help pump out water. Tuke, born in Falmouth and now settled in Cornwall with others of the Newlyn School, painted this on a brig in Falmouth Harbour (Tate's display caption), and seems to have included a self-portrait. He is second from the left in a white shirt (see Kim 41). In contrast to another shipboard scene, Resting, this one encapsulates man's desperate, heroic battle against the elements. — Jacqueline Banerjee