Rouse Simmons - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Rouse Simmons was a three-masted schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

famous for having sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

with a cargo of Christmas tree

Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...

s when it foundered off the coast of Two Rivers, Wisconsin

Two Rivers, Wisconsin

Two Rivers is a city in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,712 at the 2010 census. It is the birthplace of the ice cream sundae...

, killing all on board.

The legacy of the schooner lives on in the area, with frequent ghost sightings and tourist attractions whereby its final route is traced. It was known as "The Christmas Tree Ship" and was one of many schooners to transport Christmas trees across the lake. However, with railroads, highways, and tree farms proving much more economical, the tree-shipping industry was on a steep decline and they had stopped sailing by 1920.

History

The Rouse Simmons was built in Milwaukee in 1868 by Allan, McClelland, & Company, and named after a Kenosha businessman. The schooner was soon purchased by wealthy lumber magnate Charles H. Hackley of Muskegon, Michigan

Muskegon, Michigan

Muskegon is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 38,401. The city is the county seat of Muskegon County...

and joined his sizeable fleet. Hackley's ships served across most of Lake Michigan's coastline, and the Rouse Simmons became a workhorse, shipping lumber from company mills to several ports around the lake for around 20 years. At its peak the schooner was making almost weekly runs between Grand Haven and Chicago.

After its service for Hackley the ship exchanged hands several times. Many similar schooners were also frequently sold and they became known as "tramp ships". In 1910 Herman Schuenemann bought an interest in the ship, expanding that to an eighth in 1912. The other shares were owned by Captain Charles Nelson of Chicago, who owned one eighth and would sail alongside Schuenemann on the fatal journey, and three fourths (the commanding share) were owned by Mannes J. Bonner, a businessman from St. James, Michigan.

The "Christmas Tree Ship"

The Schuenemann brothers, Herman and August, had been trading Christmas trees in Chicago since the turn of the century. August died in November 1898 aboard the S. Thal – a 52-ton, two-masted schooner – when it sank in a storm near Glencoe, Illinois

Glencoe, Illinois

Glencoe is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 8,723. Glencoe is located on suburban Chicago's North Shore. Glencoe is located within the New Trier High School District. Glencoe is regarded as one of the most affluent suburbs on...

. His younger brother continued the family business. While many rival traders had sold to wholesalers and local grocers, Schuenemann sold directly to Chicago residents at dockside by Clark Street Bridge

Clark Street Bridge

The Clark Street Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, connecting the Near North Side with The Loop.-History:...

. By cutting out the middleman in this way the trees could be sold cheaply while still making a profit. The venture used the slogan "Christmas Tree Ship: My Prices are the Lowest", with electric Christmas lights and a tree atop the main mast. The trees were sold for between 50 cents and $1, but Herman Schuenemann, affectionately known as "Captain Santa", also gave away some of the trees to needy families.

Final journey

Schuenemann loaded the schooner with 5,500 trees from Thompson Harbor near Manistique, Michigan

Manistique, Michigan

Manistique is a city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 3,583. It is the county seat of Schoolcraft County and the only incorporated community in the county. The city lies on the north shore of Lake Michigan, at the southwest corner...

and planned to make the week-long journey to Chicago. The difficult weather had discouraged his competitors from making their own journeys, and snow had covered the tree farms in Michigan and Wisconsin. He hoped that the resultant shortage of Christmas trees would lead to a huge profit and solve his financial problems.

Already by 1912, November had a reputation for especially violent storms on the Great Lakes. November, 1912, however had been relatively quiet, with only one significant storm so far, which affected especially southeastern Michigan and northwestern Ohio.http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/040/mwr-040-11-1649.pdf (The reports that say another storm had already taken many lives and ships that month are erroneous, confusing 1912 with the Big Blow

Great Lakes Storm of 1913

The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the "Big Blow", "Jeff Kinsland's Wash," the "Freshwater Fury" or the "White Hurricane", was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and the Canadian province of Ontario...

of 1913.) Still, a second storm was brewing. The conditions of the day were very poor, with many ships anchoring in port for shelter to avoid being battered by the 60 mph winds that could be anticipated in a November gale.

Local legends say that some sailors refused to board the ship and that the vessel was unseaworthy. Two years previous the schooner had been towed to port by The Grand Haven Tribune after it was found riding low in the water. Despite this the journey began at noon, with trees crammed into every possible corner of the ship. The weight of the trees was far above recommendations, especially in the bad winter weather, and was certainly going to contribute to the tragedy. During the night, with storms hitting the Simmons hard, two sailors were sent to check the lashings on deck. Both seamen were swept overboard by a giant wave that collected them, many bundled trees, and a small boat. Now that the schooner was slightly lighter and more maneuverable Captain Schuenemann directed it towards Bailey's Harbor. Suddenly, and tragically, the storms worsened; ice formed on the sodden trees and winds battered the hull.

When the Kewaunee

Kewaunee, Wisconsin

Kewaunee is a city in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,806 at the 2000 census. Located on the northwestern shore of Lake Michigan, the city is the county seat of Kewaunee County....

Life Saving Station spotted the Rouse Simmons on 23 November 1912 it was low in the water with tattered sails, flying its flag at half mast to signal that it was in distress. Logs from the station show that a surfman spotted the Simmons at 2:50pm and alerted station keeper Nelson Craite. Craite found that the station's gas tugboat had left earlier in the day and, at 3:10pm, Craite telephoned the nearest other Station. George E. Sogge of Two Rivers, located just south of Kewaunee, sent out the power boat Tuscarora on a rescue mission, but the Simmons was not seen again.

The Simmons was not the only ship to go down during the storm, with the South Shore, the Three Sisters, and the Two Brothers suffering similar fates.

Wreck and debris

A message in a bottle from the Rouse Simmons washed onto the shore at Sheboygan

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

-Airport:Sheboygan is served by the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport, which is located several miles from the city.-Roads:Interstate 43 is the primary north-south transportation route into Sheboygan, and forms the west boundary of the city. U.S...

. It had been corked using a small piece of cut pine tree and, other than the occasional trees caught in fishing nets, was the only remains of the vessel discovered for many years. The message read:
In 1924 a fishing net trawled up a wallet belonging to Captain Schuenemann. The wallet, well preserved because it was wrapped in oilskin

Oilskin

Oilskin can mean:*A type of fabric: canvas with a skin of oil applied to it as waterproofing, often linseed oil. Old types of oilskin included:-**Heavy cotton cloth waterproofed with linseed oil.**Sailcloth waterproofed with a thin layer of tar....

, contained business cards, a newspaper clipping and an expense memorandum. In 1971 the wreck itself was discovered by scuba

Scuba diving

Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

diver Gordon Kent Bellrichard from Milwaukee. Bellrichard was searching for the Vernon, a 177-foot, 700-ton steamer that had sunk in a storm in October 1887, and had been told about an area in which local fishermen had frequently snagged their nets. When his sonar

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

appeared to have located something he dived down to a shipwreck

Shipwreck

A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....

on the bed of the lake 172 feet below. Despite his light failing, Bellrichard managed to survey the wreckage with his hands and concluded that he had instead found the Simmons.

A forensic study of the wreck suggested that the ship had steerage

Steerage

Steerage is the act of steering a ship. "Steerage" also refers to the lowest decks of a ship.-Steerage and steerage way:The rudder of a vessel can only steer the ship when water is passing over it...

and was sailing for shelter when it sank. The mizzen mast snapped off above the deck and the upper portion was not located. The main mast

Mast (sailing)

The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...

was found forward and to the port side of the wreck with the base missing. The foremast

Mast (sailing)

is intact and lies nearly parallel but on top of the main mast suggesting at least one of these masts fell out of the mast step as the ship went down.

Many of the trees are still in the ship's hold, though two were extracted and shown as exhibits. Several items recovered from the Rouse Simmons are now housed in Rogers Street Fishing Village Museum in Two Rivers, including the ship's wheel. The ship's anchor

Anchor

An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...

was retrieved and now stands at the entrance to the Milwaukee Yacht Club

Milwaukee Yacht Club

The Milwaukee Yacht Club has been in operation on Lake Michigan's coast since 1871. The yacht club's slip is in Milwaukee's McKinley Marina. The Milwaukee Yacht Club is leasing the land from Milwaukee County; the current lease is for 50 years beginning in 1994....

. The remains of the wreck are listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

Legacy

The Christmas Tree Ship lived on through Schuenemann's wife, Barbara, and their two daughters. However, in the latter years they chose to transport the trees by train and merely used a boat as a platform for sale. The practice of transporting trees by schooner ceased in 1920, and the increasing popularity of railways, highways and tree farms soon made it easier and more affordable for everyone to buy a tree.

External links

Load full of Christmas trees went down with the ship by Dennis McCann at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Maritime History of the Great Lakes: Shipwrecks: Rouse Simmons
Maritime History of the Great Lakes: Vessel Extracts: Rouse Simmons
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Files

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