No doubt some of my readers will smile at the statement that a man in a boat on smooth water can pull himself across with the tiller rope! But it is a fact.
If the jester had fastened the end of his rope to the stern of the boat and then, while standing in the bows, had given a series of violent jerks, the boat would have been propelled forward. This has often been put to a practical test, and it is said that a speed of two or three miles an hour may be attained.
See W. W. Rouse Ball's Mathematical Recreations.