SS Chief Wawatam
Ferry · built 1911
In short
SS Chief Wawatam (Ferry) has no AIS position on record with Voydar.
- Vessel type
- Ferry
- Flag
- —
- Year built
- 1911
- Gross tonnage
- —
- Size (length × beam)
- 103 m
- Registered owner
- —
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Last reported position
No AIS position on record for this vessel. Identity and particulars are below.
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Try the live demo, no sign-upIdentity & particulars
- Name
- SS Chief Wawatam
- IMO numberWhat is an IMO number?
- 5070115
- MMSIWhat is an MMSI?
- —
- Call signWhat is a call sign?
- —
- Flag
- —
- Vessel type
- Ferry
- Gross tonnageGross tonnage vs deadweight
- —
- Length overall
- 103.3 m
- Beam
- —
- Year built
- 1911
A tag next to a value names the register that supplied it (hover or tap it for the record and date). Values without a tag come from the ship's own AIS broadcasts or from Wikidata. Position and identity are derived live from AIS.
Ownership & management
Each line shows where the fact comes from. Links backed by an identifier point to the company page.
- Builder
- Source: Wikidata · reported · confidence 0.8 · retrieved Sep 22, 2026
Timeline
Dated events for this ship from every source Voydar holds, newest first. Each line names its source; derived items say how they were derived.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Reported arrival at ChicagoAuthority-reported | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances | |
| Reported departure from ChicagoAuthority-reported | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances | |
| Reported arrival at ChicagoAuthority-reported | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
Owner, operator and manager changes found by comparing yearly EU MRV reports are dated to the reporting year ("during 2025"), not to a day. Port calls here are the most recent only; the full lists are further down.
Port calls
Two kinds of evidence, kept apart: calls Voydar detected from the ship's AIS positions, and arrivals and departures published by port authorities and customs records.
Reported by authorities Authority-reported
| Port | Record | Date (UTC) | Berth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago USCHI | Arrival | Dec 18, 2004(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| Chicago USCHI | Departure | Dec 18, 2004(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| Chicago USCHI | Arrival | Dec 2, 2004(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| Chicago USCHI | Departure | Dec 2, 2004(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| ROUGE RIVER, MI (INCLUDED IN PORT OF DETROIT) | Departure | Nov 18, 2002(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| ROUGE RIVER, MI (INCLUDED IN PORT OF DETROIT) | Arrival | Nov 18, 2002(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| Chicago USCHI | Departure | Oct 23, 2002(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| Chicago USCHI | Arrival | Oct 23, 2002(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| TRENTON, MI (INCLUDED IN PORT OF DETROIT) | Departure | Oct 5, 2002(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| TRENTON, MI (INCLUDED IN PORT OF DETROIT) | Arrival | Oct 5, 2002(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| ST. CLAIR, MI (INCLUDED IN ST. CLAIR RIVER) | Arrival | Oct 4, 2002(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
| Milwaukee USMKE | Departure | Sep 24, 2002(date only) | — | USACE foreign traffic vessel entrances & clearances |
Records published by the authority named on each row. Earliest record for this ship: May 6, 2002.
Source: US Army Corps of Engineers, Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (US CBP entrance/clearance records). Licence: US Government work — public domain.
About SS Chief Wawatam
Chief Wawatam (nicknamed the Chief) was a coal-fired steel ship in operation on the Great Lakes from 1911 to 1984. It was cut down into a barge by new owners in 1989, and scrapped in 2009. For most of its working life, the vessel was based in St. Ignace, Michigan. It was named after a distinguished Ojibwa chief of the 1760s. In initial revenue service, the Chief Wawatam served as a train ferry, passenger ferry and icebreaker that operated year-round at the Straits of Mackinac between St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, Michigan. During the winter months, it sometimes took many hours to cross the five-mile-wide Straits, and Chief Wawatam was fitted with complete passenger hospitality spaces. Chief Wawatam's work began to change in the 1940s. Its role as an icebreaker stationed in the upper Great Lakes was supplanted in 1944 by USCGC Mackinaw, a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker.
Summary from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA.
Frequently asked questions
- Where is SS Chief Wawatam now?
- Voydar has no displayable AIS position for SS Chief Wawatam in this profile. A coverage gap does not establish whether the ship is transmitting or where it is now.
- What kind of ship is SS Chief Wawatam?
- SS Chief Wawatam is a ferry, built in 1911 by American Ship Building Company. The vessel is 103.3 m long.
- What sanctions and inspection records does Voydar hold for SS Chief Wawatam?
- Voydar has no matched sanctions record displayed for SS Chief Wawatam from the OFAC SDN list, the UK Sanctions List, the Canadian autonomous sanctions list, the EU list of designated vessels, the New Zealand Russia Sanctions Register and the French national asset-freeze register. Coverage may be incomplete; this is not sanctions clearance. No matched inspection records are displayed for SS Chief Wawatam. Missing records do not establish whether the ship has been detained.
Neighbouring IMO numbers
IMO numbers are issued in sequence. These are the nearest numbers below and above this ship's that have a full Voydar profile.
Use this data
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