SS Chief Wawatam was a coal-fired train ferry

Train ferry

A train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as...

 and icebreaker

Icebreaker

An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...

 that operated in the Straits of Mackinac

Straits of Mackinac

The Straits of Mackinac is the strip of water that connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and separates the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a shipping lane providing passage for raw materials and finished goods, connecting, for...

 between 1911–1984. Her home port was St. Ignace, Michigan

St. Ignace, Michigan

Saint Ignace, usually written as St. Ignace, is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,678. It is the county seat of Mackinac County. From the Lower Peninsula, St. Ignace is the gateway to the Upper Peninsula.St...

, and she shuttled back and forth during her entire working life between that port and Mackinaw City, Michigan

Mackinaw City, Michigan

Mackinaw City is a village in Emmet and Cheboygan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2000 census the population was 859. The name "Mackinaw City" is a bit of a misnomer as it is actually a village...

.

Railroad ferry

The Chief Wawatam was designed by Great Lakes marine architect Frank E. Kirby

Frank E. Kirby

Frank E. Kirby was a naval architect in the Detroit area in the early 20th century. Kirby was best known for his five huge Lake Erie night boats....

. She was launched in Toledo, Ohio

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

 by the Toledo Shipbuilding Company on 26 August 1911, and went into service for the Mackinac Transportation Company

Mackinac Transportation Company

The Mackinac Transportation Company was a train ferry service that shuttled railroad cars across the Straits of Mackinac from 1882 until 1984. It was best known as the owner and operator, from 1911 until 1984, of the SS Chief Wawatam, an icebreaking train ferry.-History:The Mackinac Transportation...

 on 18 October 1911. The Mackinac Transportation Company was a joint venture of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway

Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway

The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway was an American railroad serving the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the Lake Superior shoreline of Wisconsin. It provided service from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and St. Ignace, Michigan, westward through Marquette, Michigan to Superior, Wisconsin,...

, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad

Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad

The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at its height provided passenger and freight railroad services between Cincinnati, Ohio and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, USA...

, and the Michigan Central Railroad

Michigan Central Railroad

The Michigan Central Railroad was originally incorporated in 1846 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada...

, the three railroads that serviced the Straits of Mackinac.

Year-round train ferry service in the Straits of Mackinac was a significant challenge because of the heavy ice

Ice

Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

 buildup experienced by these straits in winter. The Chief Wawatam was designed to break ice floes with her bow propeller

Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

, which could both maneuver the boat and suck water out from underneath the ice to enable it to be broken through force of gravity.

The Chief Wawatam was 338 feet in length and had a beam of 62 feet. Her three propellers, two in the stern and one on the bow, were driven by coal-fired triple-expansion steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s. The Chief is believed to have been the last hand-fired, coal-burning boat in commercial service on the Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

. Other coal-burning vessels that survived longer in revenue service, such as the , had automatic stoker

Stoker

A stoker is "one who stokes".Stoker may also refer to:* A fireplace poker* Mechanical stoker - a coal-feeding device on a steam locomotive...

s.

Relics

Need by shippers for the Straits of Mackinac train ferry service provided by the Mackinac Transportation Company declined following construction of the Mackinac Bridge

Mackinac Bridge

The Mackinac Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac to connect the non-contiguous Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Opened in 1957, the bridge is the third longest in total suspension in the world and the longest suspension bridge between anchorages...

 in 1957. After cross-Straits of Mackinac railroad car ferry service ended in 1984, the Chief lay in mothballs for several years in Mackinaw City. She was towed to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...

 in 1989 and cut down at that port to serve as a barge

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...

. In November 2009 it was reported that barge Chief Wawatam was being scrapped. At the time of this final scrappage she was one of the last survivors of the Great Storm of 1913.

One of the Chief's triple-expansion engines was withheld from salvage and, after being restored to operating condition, was placed on display in 2005 at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum

Wisconsin Maritime Museum

The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is a maritime museum founded in 1968 as the Manitowoc Maritime Museum to ensure that the maritime heritage of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, U.S., and the Great Lakes would not be forgotten...

 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Manitowoc is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2000 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,053, with over 50,000 residents in the surrounding communities...

. Other artifacts from the ferry, including the whistle, wheel, telegraphs, and furniture, are preserved by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission

Mackinac Island State Park Commission

The Mackinac Island State Park Commission is an appointed board of the State of Michigan that administers state parklands in the Straits of Mackinac area. It performs public activities under the name Mackinac State Historic Parks...

in Mackinaw City.

Further reading

• Burgdorf, Frances D. (1976) Chief Wawatam: Story of a Hand Bomber Cheboygan, Michigan 297 pages
• Hilton, George W. (December, 2003) Great Lakes Car Ferries Montevallo Historical Press, Incorporated (240 Pages) ISBN 9780965862431; ISBN 0965862437; ISBN 978-0965862431

External links

• Chief Wawatam site