Shipbucket

After about a year and half of on and off again work I finally completed this drawing of the rail ferry Chief Wawatam. Although she changed little over her 70 years of service I've depicted her as she would have looked early in her career. I will be releasing this on my site soon, but here is an early preview…

The S.S. Chief Wawatam was designed by Frank E. Kirby and built in 1911 at the Toledo Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, OH. She served as a rail ferry working year round shuttling railcars across the Straits of Mackinac between Michigan’s Lower and Upper peninsulas. The bow propeller was very useful for icebreaking during the winter months when ice in the straits can build up. The “Chief” as she was affectionately known is sadly no longer in existence. For more information and many pictures of the real Chief Wawatam please take a look here:

http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/histor ... efault.htm

~John

God that is AWESOME! She was my first Shipbucket drawing, but that's utter crap compared to this. I got to see her back in 1976 when we went on summer vacation to the Soo, before they cut her down. Is she still in use as a barge or have they finally scrapped her?

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"If you want to have dinner with the Devil, make sure to bring a long spoon!"
The New Wolf's Shipyard
The New Wolf's Shipyard Forum

Unfortunately, what was left of the Chief was finally scrapped in 2009.

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Fan of Dreadnaughts, Super-Dreadnaughts, Fast Battleships and Battlecruisers.

More like putting her out of her misery I would suppose.

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"If you want to have dinner with the Devil, make sure to bring a long spoon!"
The New Wolf's Shipyard
The New Wolf's Shipyard Forum

Thank you CanisD! Don't be hard on yourself, you did a very fine job with the Chief. As Dreadnaught111 said, her barge life is over and she has been scrapped, put out of her misery. You are very lucky to have seen her, I never had the chance. She must have been quite a sight back in the day belching black smoke crossing the straights and fighting ice flows...

When I saw her she was docked, I think in St. Ignace. Memory is a little fuzzy since I was 5 at the time.

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"If you want to have dinner with the Devil, make sure to bring a long spoon!"
The New Wolf's Shipyard
The New Wolf's Shipyard Forum

Canis, you should redo her then...

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My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen