Faded beauty: The damaged boat tied to the shore in Teluk Bahang, Penang, to ensure it doesn’t drift off.
GEORGE TOWN: A damaged, storm-battered boat known as Charly rests at the corner of a beach here, carrying with it the story of an elderly German seafarer who abandoned it almost 10 years ago.
The boat, possibly a cabin cruiser, now sports barnacles from being filled with water during high tides.
It also has a gaping hole on the side of its hull.
About 11m long, it has been a part of the fixture at Teluk Bahang’s beach.
Fisherman Abdul Jamil Chik, 56, recalled meeting the German seafarer, who was in his 80s when he arrived around 2015 or 2016.
“He said he had travelled the world and reached Penang after visiting Sri Lanka and other neighbouring countries.”
Abdul Jamil described the German as a friendly person.
“It was nice to hear his stories.”
He recalled that the boat was called Charly but now the name on the side of the boat had faded away.
The seafarer, Abdul Jamil said, had anchored his boat a few metres away from the shore and left a few days later, saying that he had to fly back to Germany.
Chaotic sight: Abdul Jamil checking the interior of the damaged boat. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star
“I saw him once more before the pandemic hit. I was told he paid some beach boys to keep an eye on the boat,” he said.
Abdul Jamil said a bad storm last year had probably freed the boat from its anchor because it floated towards the wave barrier and smashed into the granite rocks, causing a big hole at the side of its hull.
“The boat took in water but it was still partially afloat.
“Fishermen became worried because a half-sunken boat floating freely can be a major sea hazard,” he said.
Not long ago, when the tide was high and the cabin cruiser drifted close to the beach, Abdul Jamil managed to reach for it and tie it to a post on the beach.
He said the gleaming white boat was once a beauty when the German first arrived on it.
“It was a lovely sight. It looked pristine despite having made many trips all over the world as claimed by its owner,” he said.
Some time ago, Abdul Jamil was saddened to find out that people had looted the cabin cruiser, stripping it bare of its fixtures and furnishings.
“And seawater going in from the broken hull damaged it even further,” he said.
“All I want to do now is bring it further up the beach on the next spring tide so that it will not float off again.”
Abdul Jamil theorised that the elderly owner might have passed on, adding that no one had come forward to claim the boat.
Boatman Jainudin Ondin, 45, said he used to admire the beauty of the boat when he motored past.
“If it was repaired, it might still be seaworthy.
“I remember the foreigner who sailed in it as being fit but quite elderly,” he said.
