When the boat is ready to
move, the boatman will swing
the boat’s cable in such a way
that the longer cable will be
at the bow (back) of the boat
and the shorter one at the
stern(front). In that manner, the
boat will drift at a 45º position
in relation to the direction of the
current with the stern facing the
opposite bank. The boatman will
then give the boat a jerk with
a pole and the boat will move
itself towards the opposite bank
due to the resultant force of
the current as illustrated in the
sketch in Fig. 2.
When the boat reaches the
opposite bank, the boatman
will unload the passengers and
motorbikes. Before taking the
next load of passengers and
motorbikes, the boatmen will
then swing the two attached
cables turning the boat 180º
around resulting the shorter
cable at the stern (front) of
the boat and the longer one
at bow (back). He then takes
in new batch of passengers
and motorbikes and the cycle
is repeated by jerking the boat
forward and letting the force of
the current move the boat to the
opposite river bank.
End of ferry services
There was no record of when
the boat ferry services started
operating but some local elders
put it around 1960s. The boat
ferry service met its fate in
1995 when a bridge was built
across the Jelai River.
Unfortunately, no proper
photographs or records were
kept by the operator as it was
considered a common sight
then. The photographs taken
by me in 1994 serves to show
Fig. 1: Kuala Lipis boat ferry
- PLAN
Fig. 2: Resultant force of current: Fx
Photo taken in 2015 showing
tourists visiting the abandoned
site with no trace of the once
busy ferry terminal
the operation of the ferry with
the boatman maneuvering the
boat at the ramp of the river
bank.
Revisit in 2015
At the moment, the vertical
concrete stumps are nowhere
to be seen and the landing ramp
site of the river bank is also
overgrown with vegetation. While
revisiting the site to recollect the
innovative mode of transport
across the river, I saw some
visitors near the old landing site
posing for photographs for fond
memories. They exclaimed that
it should have been kept as a
landmark to add to the heritage
attractions of this historical
town.
As I moved away from
the site, I was thinking that
it would have been a good
research project for engineers
to harness the green energy of
mother nature. There must be
a minimum current strength for
the boat to move at reasonable
speed. Perhaps someone can
use the same principle to design
a bigger vessel with vertical fins
under water that be tilted at 45º
to the direction of the current to
propel the vessel.
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