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having “Wet Towage” accepted by the Royal Academy and hung “on the line” at
Burlington House. (Figs 4.3 & 4.4.)

1937 was also a watershed year in another sense as it was marked by Pilkington’s trip to

Tristan da Cunha. His fascination with this island is little known and is not documented in

any detail. It is something that, to the despair of some members of my family, I share with
him and I have a burning desire to go to Tristan. He went down as a passenger on the HMS

Carlisle which took the annual mail to the island. She also took working parties, a medical
team, and a dentist to attend to the islanders’ needs. It was, I believe, the dentist who

arranged Pilkington’s trip but whether he was required to pay for this by being a dental
assistant is unknown. On the way down, he became fascinated by the albatross, one of

which persistently followed HMS Carlisle for days on end. The grace, beauty and power of

the bird as it rode the air currents enraptured him, but capturing it in a sketch escaped him
until he drew an image of it in flight, cut this out in profile, and then positioned it on a

blank canvas before painting the background scene of the sky, to produce what many

people will argue is his best work. (Fig. 4.5)

During the 40s Pilkington continued to live and work in St. James and many of his
paintings in this period were of boats and beaches and fishermen from Kalk Bay, and other

False Bay fishing areas, and St. James. (Figs 4.6 - 4.23.) He used as his studio the Old
Aquarium on the green in front of the St. James station. (Fig. 4.24) Here amongst the tanks,

which once contained fish, his easel stood surrounded by the paraphernalia of painting. As

a young boy, I was one of the few who were permitted to enter this sanctum. Why he chose
to put up with the inevitable childhood noise I don't know, but I had and still have a sense

of being honoured by this. I can’t remember what he painted while I was there as all of this
is on the very fringes of my earliest memories.

The year 1947 brought a Royal Visit to South Africa and the Royal Family arrived in Cape

Town in February aboard the HMS Vanguard. Pilkington was commissioned to record this