Pünte

The pünte at Wiltshausen near Leer in East Frisia

A pünte (plural: pünten) is the German term for a type of non-motorised river boat and thus a special type of flat-bottomed boat. It is propelled manually using a crank or hauled by horses on the shore. Today pünten are used almost exclusively as ferries.

## History

Pünten were built from wood. They had a flat bottom and the sides sloped only slight outwards. Pünten were often fitted with a sail, although this was usually insufficient for propulsion, so that the boat was mostly hauled as well. A horse was transported on board for this purpose, which had to be put ashore when the boat came to stretches of river that required the boat to be hauled.[1]

## Pünten today

After centuries of decline, several pünten are again in operation in Germany in East Frisia and the Emsland. For example the Leher Pünte, the only sail-driven ferry over the navigable Ems, crosses the river near Lehe[2] and, near the Großes Meer in the East Frisian municipality of Südbrookmerland pünten are used at two points along a cycleway.[3]

The Dutch province of Drenthe has a pünte, Johannes Veldkamp, a restored historical pünte dating to 1907.[4]

The oldest operational hand-operated ferry in Central Europe is the pünte in Wiltshausen, which crosses the Jümme at its confluence with the Leda.

## References

1. ↑ Marlene Schepers: Von der Pünte zum Containerschiff (pdf; 11.9 MB), Reederei H. Schepers
2. ↑ Leher Pünte , Touristikverein der Samtgemeinde Dörpen e. V.
3. ↑ Mit der Pünte über das Marscher Tief, 3-Meere-Weg, Projekt Großes Meer.
4. ↑ Pünte „Johannes Veldkamp“

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