MS Chi-Cheemaun

MS Chi-Cheemaun is a Canadian passenger and vehicle ferry in Ontario, Canada, which traverses Lake Huron between Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula and South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island. The ferry connects the two geographically separate portions of Highway 6 and is the vessel that replaced MS Norgoma and SS Norisle in 1974. The ferry service runs seasonally from mid-May to mid-October. As of 2022 she is the third largest passenger vessel sailing the Great Lakes after the expedition cruise liner Viking Octantis and the US ferry SS Badger, although several larger vessels previously serving the Great Lakes are still in service in other parts of the world.

History
NameChi-Cheemaun
OwnerOwen Sound Transportation Company
OperatorOwen Sound Transportation Company
Port of registry Canada, Owen Sound
RouteTobermory, Bruce Peninsula → South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island
BuilderCollingwood Shipbuilding
CostCAD$10 million
Yard number346838
Laid downJanuary 1974
Maiden voyageSeptember 10, 1974
Identification
StatusOperational
General characteristics
Tonnage
Length111 m (364 ft 2 in)
Beam19 m (62 ft 4 in)
Draught
  • 3.53 m (11 ft 7 in) forward
  • 3.97 m (13 ft 0 in) aft
Depth6.4 m (21 ft 0 in)
Installed power9,200 hp (6,900 kW) 8-cylinder Caterpillar V8 diesels
Propulsion4 × 2,300 hp (1,700 kW) diesel; 1 × 800 hp (600 kW) bow thruster
Speed16.25 knots (30.10 km/h; 18.70 mph)
Capacity638 passengers; 140 autos

Literally translated, "chi-cheemaun" (in folk orthography or chi-jiimaan in the more standard Fiero double vowel spelling) means "big canoe" in Ojibwe.

History

A trip aboard Chi-Cheemaun is a long standing Great Lakes tradition dating back to the 1930s when a small, wooden vessel, Kagawong, first ferried vehicles across the Georgian Bay between Tobermory and South Baymouth.[1] It features a drive-on, drive-off bow and stern loading and unloading through a visored bow system and a square door stern section. The ship is 111 m (364 ft 2 in) long with a 19 m (62 ft 4 in) beam and has capacity for 648 passengers and 143 vehicles, including room for large highway vehicles such as buses and transport trucks.

Chi-Cheemaun was initially powered by two Ruston 3,500-horsepower (2,600 kW) diesel engines and an 800 hp (600 kW) bow thruster engine for improved handling of the vessel at slow speeds. During the 2006–2007 winter layover period, her Ruston engines were replaced with four Caterpillar V8 diesels.[2] The addition of two mezzanine decks in 1982 increased the ship's vehicle carrying capacity.

Like her predecessors on Lake Huron, Chi-Cheemaun is owned by Owen Sound Transportation Company Limited, an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO)

Chi-Cheemaun makes the 40 km (25 mi) trip in about one hour and 45 minutes, three times each day during peak season and twice a day (with an extra trip Fridays) during May/June and September/October.[3]

From 1989 to 1992, her sister ship, MS Nindawayma, ran the same route, but was retired because of service problems leading to public dissatisfaction and sat rusting in Owen Sound, Ontario. It was finally broken up in 2012 at Purvis Marine in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Information radio

Two low power radio stations, CHEI-FM (89.9 FM in South Baymouth) and CHEE-FM (89.9 FM in Tobermory) broadcast tourist notices and schedule information for travellers on the ferry.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Tour the Cheec". Owen Sound Transportation Company. 2011. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  2. Owen Sound Times
  3. "Ferry Schedule" (PDF). Ontario Ferries. Owen Sound Transportation Company. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  4. Secretary General (17 February 1999). "Decision CRTC 99-40 New very low power seasonal radio services to provide Information on local ferry services". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Retrieved 13 September 2011.

Further reading
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