Dropping the Pilot is a political cartoon by Sir John Tenniel, first published in the British magazine Punch, March 1890. Showing German Emperor Wilhelm II and the leaving Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The reference to Bismarck as a "pilot" comes from an earlier cartoon from the Puck magazine from Saint Louis, Missouri. For that magazine, the cartoonist Joseph Keppler made one titled "The Master Pilot of the Age", featuring Bismarck on a ship, having brought it out to the high seas, from which the stars and gods looked down. This symbolized Bismarck's accomplishment of forming the Kaiserreich, which enabled Germany to be recognized as a great power. Image File history File links 1890_Bismarcks_Ruecktritt. ... 1889 Self-portrait Sir John Tenniel (February 28, 1820 – February 25, 1914) was an English illustrator. ... Punch was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire published from 1841 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002. ... German Emperor Wilhelm (born Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht, Prince of Prussia 27 January 1859–4 June 1941), was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia (de: Deutscher Kaiser und König von Preußen), ruling from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. ... Bismarck redirects here. ... left|Signal flag H(Hotel) - Pilot on Board Boarding is tricky, as both vessels are moving and cannot afford to slow down. ... Puck was a U.S. periodical published in New York from 1876 to 1918, originally in German and from 1877 in English as well. ...

The cartoon is well known in Germany and often used in history textbooks, under the title Der Lotse geht von Bord.