*Note: The printed version of this article states that the French referred to Penang Island as île Cayment; the correct information is that the French referred to Pulau Rimau as île Cayment.

WALKING ALONG THE Queen’s Waterfront promenade at Bayan Lepas, you see a large, heavily forested island nearby that once hosted a leper colony and, later, a prison. This is Pulau Jerejak. Facing the said island, look to your left and you will see a forlorn blue ship, sitting slightly tilted right in the shallows against the backdrop of the Penang Bridge. This vessel, the Pulau Rimau, was part of the iconic Penang ferry fleet that is now decommissioned. The Rimau, costing RM5mil, was launched on 6 August 1980. The now disused ferry was first parked in 2019 in front of the promenade as a display piece, draped with a large white banner bearing the words “Ideal Property Group”, its current owner and the developer of the waterfront. The ship’s namesake, the actual island of Pulau Rimau, lies 10km further south, just beyond the second Penang Bridge.

Visitors

In April 1591, James Lancaster, master of the merchant ship, Edward Bonaventure, set sail from Plymouth on the first English voyage to the East Indies. The knowledge he gained from that trip would be later instrumental in helping the East India Company (EIC), formed in 1600, penetrate those markets. Lancaster was also a privateer, essentially a state-sponsored pirate. He had spent the early part of his life in Portugal before returning to England.

By the beginning of June 1592, the Bonaventure, with its crew stricken with scurvy, reached the “Isles of Pulo Pinaom” in the Straits of Malacca. Pinaom is the Portuguese accented pronunciation of pinang, the Malay word for betel nut. According to Edmund Barker, Lancaster’s lieutenant, their ship “came to an [anchor] in a very good harborough between three [islands]”. Based on this description, it would have been the islands of Penang, Kendi and Rimau. The anchorage itself was likely Teluk Kumar, near various streams supplying ample fresh water. “Here we landed our [sick] men on these uninhabited [islands] for their health,” Barker recounted. “In these [islands] are abundance of trees of white wood, so right and tall a man may make [ship’s masts] of them, being a hundred [foot] long.” He also mentioned “[oysters] growing on rocks”, which the sailors ate. Lancaster and his men stayed for three months in Penang.

This is the earliest known indirect description and reference to Pulau Rimau. Penang and its surrounding smaller islands such as Pulau Rimau would have been well known by this time to the Portuguese (called Ferringhi by the Malays), as they had controlled the Straits of Malacca for over 80 years. Lancaster, having lived among them, would very likely have heard of Pulo Pinaom (Penang).

Tiger Island

Pulau Rimau means Tiger Island in Malay, rimau being a common contraction of the word for tiger, harimau. Some suggest that the island was so named because it was shaped like a tiger. On the other hand, S. Durai Raja Singam, in his seminal work, Malayan Place Names, wrote “A tiger was found here once on the island. It must have swum across the channel from the mainland.” His explanation (or speculation) is a bit more plausible as there had been verified incidences of tigers swimming across from the mainland to Pulau Jerejak and other nearby places up until the early 20th century.

Pulau Rimau, seen from above, resembles more a butterfly with outspread wings. The two “wings” are two low hills rising from the sea separated by a narrow valley bounded by sandy beaches to its north and south. [See this month’s Peaks and Parks article on Pulau Rimau] The higher western summit is 70m high, 5m lower than the eastern one. The island has an area of 36ha, equivalent to slightly more than 50 football fields.

After Lancaster left Penang waters on 1 September 1592, no mention would be made of the island in any written records for another 150 years or so. In 1745, the French hydrographer, Jean-Baptiste d’Après de Mannevillette referred directly to Pulau Rimau and Pulau Kendi—though not by name—in his navigational guidebook:

“To the south [of Pulo-Pinang], there are two small islets, with the farthest one being about a league away from the island. Those wishing to obtain water can anchor in 10 fathoms at low tide, in muddy ground. From there, the southern point of Pulo-Pinang is one league east, and the offshore islet [Pulau Rimau] is half a league south-southeast. [1]

Pulau Rimau then appears in a chart of Penang published on 7 October 1786 by the celebrated Scottish hydrographer, Alexander Dalrymple. [2] He noted that his chart was based on an earlier French manuscript. The layout of the southern coast of Penang in the chart matches the description given by Mannevillette. In this map, the French apparently referred to Rimau Island as Île Cayment (or Île Caïman in modern French spelling, meaning Cayman Island [3] ), while Pulau Kendi was called Oyster Island.

It was only in 1788, that the island appeared as Rimo [Rimau] in a map made by the French privateer, Jean-François Malroux du Bac, which was published in 1788. This chart showed only Fort Cornwallis and no other structures, meaning it was likely drawn just after the British occupied the island in 1786.

The name next appears twice, albeit inaccurately, in an inset entitled “Plan of the [Pulau] Pinang now Prince of Wales Island” from Laurie & Whittle’s 1798 chart of the Straits of Malacca. This early map of Penang was based on Sir Home Riggs Popham’s surveys of the southern channel from late 1791. Popham named Pulau Rimau “Poolo Balmo”, a corrupted phonetic transcription akin to Reymo and Remar seen in later government documents from the 1800s. He also seemed to have confused the island with Pulau Gedung as he named the latter “Poolo Remar”.

The Settlement

After the British occupation of Penang in 1786, nothing of note happened in the south until the island was cleared and settled around the 1820s. On Boxing Day, 26 December 1820, John James Erskine, the First Council member of the Penang Residency, informed Governor William Edward Phillips that:

“The Board [of Directors of the EIC] has already been informed that Pulo Reymo [Pulau Rimau] has been entirely cleared within the last 18 months, and is already not only planted with fruit trees, Paddy and other vegetables, but a very considerable population have constructed houses, and acquire a comfortable livelihood—Great credit is due to F. Painter (the Sailing Master of the Schooner Sylph) for the industry and encouragement he has manifested in cultivating this Island, and assembling Residents on it.”

Francis Painter was a Eurasian employed as a “Pilot and Commander” of the said government-owned ship. A pilot is a mariner who has specific knowledge of an often dangerous or congested waterway. They board and temporarily join the crew to safely guide the ship’s passage into port.

During this period, due to heightened threat of piracy, the Penang government encouraged the Bugis to clear and settle on Pulau Rimau and Pulau Kra (now Pulau Aman) to deny the Riau pirates a base. A census conducted by Richard Caunter, the Superintendent of Police showed that by 30 June 1825 there were 40 residents: “Pulo Riman [Rimau]—Malay Bugis 39, Chuliar 1.” In a recent visit to the island, Rexy Prakash Chacko reported an old well and house foundations which may have been from this time.

In 1833, Assistant Surgeon, Thomas Ward, who was also an amateur geologist, visited the island to conduct a geological survey. “In the old stockade [4] on the north side,” he said, “we saw a rolled mass of primitive greenstone, probably part of the ballot of some vessels as one like it is to be found in situ, near Pinang.” In the government records from 1825, there is mention of a “Gun from Pulo Riman [Pulo Rimau] under the charge of the Pilot Establishment”, which was later moved on the ship, Felicitas. Records show that a “Pilot Establishment” had been set up to serve the South Channel since 6 May 1818. This gun belonging to the pilot establishment may have been used at the stockade before it was removed.

Southern Light

As early as June 1874, there had been a proposal for setting up a lighthouse at the northern and southern extremities of Penang to guide shipping. It was reported in the press that “several captains of steamers which are continually trading in these waters, and the general light of them seem to think that as far as Penang is concerned the proposed light in the South Channel ought to be placed on Pulo Remo so as to act as a guide to vessels [heading towards] the island at night. All agree in urging a better light on Muka Head to serve the same purpose for vessels coming northwards.”

On the afternoon of Friday, 6 July 1883, at a legislative council meeting chaired by the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Frederick Weld, the government decided that “a new light will be provided at Fort Cornwallis, and the old one removed to Pulau Rimau”. The Muka Head lighthouse had just been completed at an eye-watering cost of $37,929 due to its difficult location on top of a 227m hill. Wanting to save money, the government decided to dismantle the fort’s existing lighthouse and reuse it at Pulau Rimau. By 1885, the move was completed, costing only $4,715. The lighthouse, called Pulo Rimau Light, was situated at the south-eastern end of the island, 39m above sea level. At its completion, it was Penang’s third lighthouse, after the ones at Muka Head and Fort Cornwallis.

In 1906, major works to the lighthouse were completed under the supervision of S.E.A. Linton, the Acting Assistant Superintendent of Works. He later “received an honorarium for special services in connection with work at Pulau Rimau lighthouse”. Harbour Master D.C. McIntyre announced that:

“On and after the 15 th January, 1906 the light on Pulau Rimau Island will be changed to a 3rd order, Red, Occulting Light, 17 ½ Seconds light, 2 ½ Seconds dark, visible 13 miles in clear weather areas of illumination 261°.”

By 1925, a telephone connection was laid to the lighthouse for $7,860. Five years later, the lighthouse became the last one in Penang to switch over from using “a wick oil burner” to a “50 m/m hood petroleum vapour burner” costing another $10,000. Relatively recently, in December 2020, the Rimau Light was upgraded to a modern, solid-state MK2000 Rotating Beacon using LEDs, installed on top of the original tower relocated from Fort Cornwallis, which was established more than 130 years ago. Today, the island remains a popular haunt for anglers and the occasional adventurous hiker.

Footnotes

[1] Translated from French by the author.

[2] In 1761, Dalrymple concluded an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu, permitting the EIC to set up a factory in North Borneo (modern day Sabah). This factory, located at Balambangan Island, was later sacked by the Sulus together with other pirates in 1775. Robert Townsend Farquhar reestablished the factory in 1803 just before he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Penang in 1804. For a brief time, this small piece of Borneo was under the jurisdiction of Penang.

[3] Dalrymple translates Île Cayment (Caïman) as Alligator Island instead of Cayman Island.

[4] A stockade is a strong wooden fence built using strong timbers pushed upright into the ground.