Arts Council England
© Estate of Alfred Cohen 2020

'I didn't want to set up an easel on the shoreline. The river was moving and I had to move with it', Cohen recalled. 'So I wheedled a pass from the port authorities and rambled round the docks where I managed to hitch lifts on the tugs which plied between Gravesend and Hammersmith. The crews were marvellous. I'd sit there on deck and sketch whatever was going on. They never made me feel in the way. Their world was something different, something on its own, and I think they shared something of my own excitement in seeing me get it down on paper.'