MS ''Chi-Cheemaun'' is a Canadian passenger and vehicle

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, which traverses

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

between Tobermory on the

Bruce Peninsula The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada, that divides Georgian Bay of Lake Huron from the lake's main basin. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southwestern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, wi ...

and South Baymouth on

Manitoulin Island Manitoulin Island ( ) is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia (bioregion), Laurentia. With an area of , it is the Lake ...

. The ferry connects the two geographically separate portions of

Highway 6 Route 6, or Highway 6, may refer to routes in the following countries: International * AH6 (highway), Asian Highway 6 * European route E6 * European route E006 Albania * :de:Nationalstraße 6 (Albanien), National Road SH6 Argentina * P ...

and is the vessel that replaced and 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 , although several larger vessels previously serving the Great Lakes are still in service in other parts of the world. Literally translated, "chi-cheemaun" (in folk orthography or ''chi-jiimaan'' in the more standard Fiero double vowel spelling) means "big canoe" in

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

History

A trip aboard ''Chi-Cheemaun'' is a long standing

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

tradition dating back to the 1930s when a small, wooden vessel, ''Kagawong'', first ferried vehicles across the

Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...

between Tobermory and South Baymouth. 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 long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

and has capacity for 648 passengers and 143 vehicles, including room for large highway vehicles such as

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es and transport

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s. ''Chi-Cheemaun'' was initially powered by two Ruston

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s and an

bow thruster Manoeuvering thrusters (bow thrusters and stern thrusters) are transversal propulsion devices built into or mounted to either the Bow (watercraft), bow or stern (front or back, respectively) of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow th ...

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. The addition of two

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

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 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. From 1989 to 1992, her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

, MS ''Nindawayma'', ran the same route, but was retired because of service problems leading to public dissatisfaction and sat rusting in

Owen Sound, Ontario Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The seat of government of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist ...

. It was finally

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

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.

References

External links

Owen Sound Transportation Co. official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chi-Cheemaun 1974 ships Ro-ro ships Ferries of the Owen Sound Transportation Company Great Lakes ships Transport in Bruce County Transport in Manitoulin District Ships built in Collingwood, Ontario

History

Information radio

See also

References

Further reading

External links