MS Chi-Cheemaun

MS Chi-Cheemaun with livery in Ontario Northland colours.
Career
Name:	Chi-Cheemaun
Owner:	Owen Sound Transportation Company
Operator:	Owen Sound Transportation Company
Port of registry:	Canada, Owen Sound
Route:	Tobermory, Bruce Peninsula → South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island
Builder:	Collingwood Shipyards Canada
Cost:	CAD$10 million
Yard number:	346838
Laid down:	January 1974
Maiden voyage:	September 10, 1974
Identification:	Call sign: VGKK IMO number: 7343607 MMSI no.: 316003125
Status:	Operational
General characteristics
Tonnage:	6,990 GT; 482 NT
Length:	111 m (364 ft)
Beam:	19 m (62 ft)
Draught:	3.53 m (11.6 ft) forward 3.97 m (13.0 ft) aft
Depth:	6.4 m (21 ft)
Installed power:	9,200 hp (6,860 kW) 8-cylinder Caterpillar V8 diesels
Propulsion:	4 x 2,300 hp (1.7 MW) diesel; 1 x 800 hp (600 kW) bow thruster
Speed:	16.25 kn (30.10 km/h; 18.70 mph)
Capacity:	638 passengers; 143 autos

MS Chi-Cheemaun is a passenger and car ferry in Ontario, Canada, which traverses Lake Huron between Tobermory on 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.

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 MS Chi-Cheemaun is a long standing Great Lakes tradition dating back to the 1930s when a small, wooden vessel, Kagawong, first ferried automobiles 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) with a 19 m (62 ft) beam and has capacity for 648 passengers and 143 vehicles, including room for large highway vehicles such as buses and transport trucks.

The ship was initially powered by two Ruston 3500 horsepower (2.6 MW) diesel engines and an 800 horsepower (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][dead link]} The addition of two mezzanine decks in 1982 increased the ship's vehicle carrying capacity to 240.

Like her predecessors on Lake Huron, MS Chi-Cheemaun is owned by Owen Sound Transportation Company Limited, an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, and operated under contract to the Ministry of Transportation.

The ship makes the 40 km (25 mi) trip in about one hour and 45 minutes, four times each day during peak season and twice a day during May and October.

For a short time, from 1989 to 1992, MS Chi-Cheemaun had a sister ship, MS Nindawayma, which ran the same route. However, MS Nindawayma was retired because of service problems leading to public dissatisfaction and now sits rusting in Sault Ste. Marie.

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.^[3]

Facts

As of 2004^[update], 85,000 vehicles 220,000 Passengers have been taken aboard MS Chi-Cheemaun.

• 

  MS Chi-Cheemaun at Tobermory with her bow open to accept passenger vehicles.

• 

  MS Chi-Cheemaun in Owen Sound.

• 

  MS Chi-Cheemaun docking near Tobermory.

• 

  Aboard MS Chi-Cheemaun at dawn.

• 

  ready to unload at Tobermory

See also

• Spirit of Ontario I, a ferry on Lake Ontario
• SS Badger, a ferry on Lake Michigan

References

1. ^ "Tour the Cheec". Owen Sound Transportation Company. 2011. http://www.chicheemaun.com/chi/english/tour.html. Retrieved 13 September 2011. 
2. ^ Owen Sound Times^{[dead link]}
3. ^ 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. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1999/DB99-40.HTM. Retrieved 13 September 2011. 

Further reading

• Jim Algie (April 27, 2007). "Chi-Cheemaun back in local water". The Owen Sound Sun Times. http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/webapp/sitepages/printable.asp?paper=www.owensoundsuntimes.com&contentID=505384&annewspapername=Owen+Sound+Sun+Times. Retrieved April 30, 2007. ^{[dead link]}
• "She's one big happy canoe". The Toronto Star: p. A3. June 4, 2005. 
• Alicia McCutcheon (May 16, 2007). "Chi-Cheemaun starts season with four brand-new engines". The Manitoulin Expositer. http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/oldfiles/May16_2007.htm. Retrieved 13 September 2011. 
• James Tost (Fall/Winter 2007). "Central Machine & Marine". Report On Industry: 13, 15. http://www.toolandcutter.com/cmmfall07.pdf. Retrieved 13 September 2011. 

External links

• MS Chi-Cheemaun official website