The Screwjack Letters – No. 20 River Rafting
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persuaded Ray Vincent to let me have ten empty 45 gallon oil drums from the Supply Depot. Metalsmith L/Cpl Whitehurst welded them together in two rows of five, adding a cone at one end of each row, with two small lashing rings near the top of each drum joint. I made some simple wooden decking with a strong beam across the stern to mount an outboard motor. 34 Company had a Nuffield Trust gift of a 14ft speed - boat and I borrowed the Mercury 40 outboard motor. We borrowed a Bedford canopy and took some poles for a roof if needed. With three volunteers we loaded fuel, water, paddles, food and four SMGs with ammunition. We had no radio and mobile phones had not yet been invented. We set off in a Bedford RL for a launch on the Kahang river, a tributary leading to the Endau. My aim was to go downstream to the Endau junction then go as far as we could up the Endau, then head downstream again to RV with the truck party at a landing stage just short of the South China Sea near Mersing. I reasoned that if the outboard failed at any time we “only” had to paddle downstream. A few miles up the Mersing road we turned left along a jungle track, arriving at a little wooden bridge over the Kahang. At the bridge were three Chinese anglers using huge cockroaches as bait. I made our apologies for disturbing them and we launched, then loaded the raft. I untied the rope and we were carried downstream at the mercy of the current. Almost immediately, a cloud of speckled white butterflies erupted around us, then were gone. We had no need yet for the engine. The Kahang was quite narrow with a fast current. Trees and long barbed fronds overhung us and one dragged Whitehurst over the stern. I dragged him back quite easily, the raft and river were moving together. We came to a point where, incredibly, the river divided equally downstream. I chose to pole the raft to the left and by luck I had chosen well. The right side stream had spread into rivulets, re-joining our stream through the trees later. The next hazard was the remains of an Attap hut on poles above the river. We made it between the poles with barely an inch to spare. We soon came to a fallen tree trunk just below the surface. I contemplated dismantling the raft to get round it. Someone suggested that three of us should get off then with one at the rear with the engine, charge up over the trunk and the raft would slip over the other side. It seemed a fair idea; Three got off, I moved a few yards back against the current then opened up the engine. The cones at the front went clear of the trunk , the raft balanced for a heart stopping moment, then slid gently downstream as I tilted the outboard clear. Try this at
44 craftsmaneditor@reme-rhq.org.uk
home, it works. At about 5 pm I decided to moor up for the night at a clump of saplings . We had two hours to construct our bed platforms and net frames on the saplings before nightfall then cook an evening meal by lamplight. We were all deep in the jungle at night for the first time in our lives. As night fell the noises of the tree -dwellers increased. The main noise was a constant, reedy whine, presumably from insects of some sort. We could also hear the sounds of monkeys in the distance. We each had a SMG and a machete, so I set no guard and I think we managed to sleep a bit. At dawn we brewed tea and set off again. The Kahang now flowed more slowly and I started the outboard motor. On reaching the Endau we found it to be very wide and calm. We turned left and headed upstream. All we saw for the next few hours, apart from dense trees, was one riverside basha with two people. Maybe they were Aboriginals, the “Orang Asli”. At about 1 pm we came to a wide bend in the river with a large pure white sand bar on the inside of the bend. I found this strange because I believe the local soil was red laterite. We stopped on it and cooked our lunch then we set off upstream again. I had to make sure that the water intake for the engine cooling pump was clear of leaves, with a jet of warm water to the rear. After another two hours or so the river widened but became shallow over stony rapids. We could go no further, this was our destination. We turned the raft around and headed fast downstream. On reaching the sand bar again we cooked a meal over a fire. The sand was dry, so we were able to sleep directly on it. Next day we continued downstream with the current. We made a pit-stop at a track near the Kahang river junction. One of our party took an SMG with him and went up the track. We soon heard a gunshot. We hurried up to him and he said “I saw a wild pig running towards me but when I fired, it turned off into the jungle.” We continued downstream and the raft seemed to be getting lower at the rear with a drop to the left. As the sun was setting we saw what looked like a huge flock of rooks flying up river above us. I looked closer and realised they were fruit- bats. It soon became dark. The moon was bright and the river was wide but the rear left drum was taking in water, so we had to keep moving fast. We arrived at the landing stage at about 9pm with the raft listing to port and low at the stern, like the Warspite coming into Roscyth after D Day. We were relieved to see the Bedford crew turn on the lights. We loaded up the raft and drove South West to Kluang down the road through the jungle from Mersing. In the headlights we saw a leopard walking close to the trees on the verge. Days earlier, going to Mersing with the speedboat, we saw that a huge python had been killed on that road, run over by a vehicle. It lay the full width of the road. Next day in Kluang a 34 Company officer said to me: “I’ve heard that men will follow some officers anywhere, but only out of curiosity” Office boy. Screwjack
