Three pilot cutters are shown racing towards a ship on the far right waiting to come inshore. The first pilot to reach her will have won the right to board her and be paid for his services. This is the meaning behind the title. The image shows the boats skimming the waves, with the signifying letter 'P' on their sails. Four men are visible in the first cuttter, particularly the man in the stern with his hand on the tiller, steering. In the vessel to the left a man appears to be waving to the people in the boat in the foreground.

The painting has been signed and dated in lower left corner 'R. Beechey 1873'. Admiral Beechey, was the son of the portrait painter Sir William Beechey. After his retirement from the Navy he devoted himself to painting and he often exhibited at the Royal Academy.