MS Chi-Cheemaun
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| History | |
|---|---|
| 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 Shipbuilding |
| Cost: | CAD$10 million |
| Yard number: | 346838 |
| Laid down: | January 1974 |
| Maiden voyage: | September 10, 1974 |
| Identification: |
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| Status: | Operational |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 111 m (364 ft) |
| Beam: | 19 m (62 ft) |
| Draught: |
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| Depth: | 6.4 m (21 ft) |
| Installed power: | 9,200 hp (6,860 kW) 8-cylinder Caterpillar V8 diesels |
| Propulsion: | 4 × 2,300 hp (1.7 MW) diesel; 1 × 800 hp (600 kW) bow thruster |
| Speed: | 16.25 knots (30.10 km/h; 18.70 mph) |
| Capacity: | 638 passengers; 240 autos |
MS Chi-Cheemaun is a passenger and vehicle 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.
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. 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.
Chi-Cheemaun 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. The addition of two mezzanine decks in 1982 increased the ship's vehicle carrying capacity.
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