3-039-020 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"A Pilot on the Look Out," by A. H. Marsh, 1871. 'The drawing we have engraved is the most important work with which Mr. A. H. Marsh makes his debut in the present exhibition of the (Old) Society of Painters in Water Colours...The man, with his weather-beaten, bearded face, his oilskin coat, tarpaulin sou'wester, and telescope, is here, we will assume, "On the look out" for vessels to pilot up the Tyne. He has quite the air of endurance, courage, and sagacity which characterise our hardy northern race of seamen; and the bright-eyed, intelligent-looking boy by his side in the rough jersey, prying into the hazy distance scarcely less patiently, and ready, with his naked feet and ankles, at a moment's notice to help launch a boat, is being trained in the same school of watchful, steadfast, trustworthy virtues. When we think of the many fine qualities brought into play and evinced in the pilot's calling - the intelligent presence of mind, the unflinching nerve, the heroism often displayed under circumstances of the utmost peril and gravest responsibility, we cannot withhold our sympathetic interest from a class of brave and trusty men, whose services are but poorly requited and apt to be too readily forgotten'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.