All Hands to the Pumps

All Hands to the Pumps is an 1888-89 painting by British artist Henry Scott Tuke. At the time, the 21-year-old Tuke was living on an old French brig Julie of Nantes, which he anchored in Falmouth harbour to use as a floating studio.

The painting measures 73 × 55 inches (190 × 140 cm). It depicts several crewmen on the deck of a ship in a storm, manning the pump to remove water from the vessel. The ship has lost at least one of its sails, and the deck is awash. The red ensign hangs upside down from the shrouds to indicate the ship's distress. One man shouts up towards the rigging, and another is up in the shrouds gesturing at the swell. The lively composition uses diagonal lines – arms, rigging, mast, pump handle, wind-blown flag – to draw the eye around the painting.