Dropping the Pilot

Dropping the Pilot is a political cartoon by Sir John Tenniel, first published in the British magazine Punch on 29 March 1890.^[1] It depicts Chancellor Otto von Bismarck as a maritime pilot who is stepping off a ship, perhaps a reference to Plato's ship of state,^[1] idly and unconcernedly watched by a young Wilhelm II, German Emperor. Bismarck had resigned as Chancellor at Wilhelm's demand just ten days earlier on 19 March^[2][3] because of political differences.

Dropping the Pilot. Cartoon by Sir John Tenniel (1820–1914), first published in the British magazine Punch, 29 March 1890^[1]

After the cartoon's publication, Tenniel received a commission from the 5th Earl of Rosebery to create a copy to be sent to Bismarck himself. The former chancellor reportedly replied, "It is indeed a fine one".^[4]

The cartoon is well known in Germany and often used in history textbooks and school books, under the title The Pilot Leaves the Ship (German: Der Lotse geht von Bord).^[1]

Adaptations

• 
  Prophecy? (Dropping the Pilot) by Will Dyson, 1914
• 
  The Haunted Ship by Bernard Partridge, 1915
• 
  Dropping the Pirate by William H. Walker, 1918

• Dropping the pilot, referring to Kaiser Wilhelm's removal from the list of Royal Navy admirals in 1914, by David Low^[5]
• Dropping the pilot,^[6] referring to Winston Churchill, by Daniel Bishop^[7]
• Cartoon^[8] Dropping the Pilots showing Khrushchev looking down as the four "Pilots" leave the ship of state.
• Cartoon^[9] showing the pilot Abraham Lincoln being "Dropped" from the "Grand Old Party" By Captain Barry Goldwater
• Cartoon^[10] showing Margaret Thatcher being "Dropped as the Pilot"
• Steve Bell of The Guardian has adapted the cartoon:
  • Vice-president faces isolation after key ally leaves Pentagon^[11]
  • Iraqis celebrate the withdrawal of American combat troops^[12]
  • David Cameron's response to Coulson's guilt^[13]
  • Dropping the pornbot (Resignation of Damian Green)^[14]
• Martin Rowson of The Guardian has also adapted the cartoon repeatedly:
  • Steve Hilton's Exit^[15]
  • Undropping the Pilot^[16]
  • The resignation of Michael Flynn^[17]
  • Dropping The Pilate on the resignation of Liz Truss after only 45 days in office^[18]