Holiday Tragedy on the Great Lakes: The Legend of the Christmas Tree Ship
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The Great Lakes are well known for their rich maritime history, especially when it comes to shipwrecks. From Michigan to Wisconsin to Minnesota and everywhere in between, the stories of Great Lakes shipwrecks continue to intrigue and mystify.
The story of the Christmas Tree Ship is one such intriguing tale. The Rouse Simmons, a 123.5-foot, three-masted schooner, was a popular sight on Lake Michigan for decades. Chicago residents eagerly awaited the Christmas Tree Ship’s arrival each December, climbing aboard to buy the biggest and best Christmas trees.
Sadly, the ship sank in the stormy waters of Lake Michigan in 1912 after taking off from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for Chicago with a load of Christmas trees. In 1971, the ship was discovered northwest of Three Rivers, Wisconsin.
While thousands of ships have sunk in the Great Lakes, perhaps no shipwreck is more festive than the famous Christmas Tree Ship. Read on to learn the fascinating story of this beloved ship, its connections to Michigan, and its enduring legacy.
About the Rouse Simmons
Builders constructed the famous Christmas Tree Ship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1868. Rouse Simmons, a businessman from Kenosha, Wisconsin, was the ship’s namesake. Not too long after its completion, Charles Hackley, a lumber magnate from Muskegon, who already had a sizable fleet of ships, bought the Rouse Simmons.
The ships in Hackley’s fleet sailed along the Lake Michigan coastline, and the Rouse Simmons became one of the fleet’s workhorses, shipping lumber from several ports around the lake for almost 20 years. During its peak years, the ship made weekly runs between Grand Haven, Michigan, and Chicago.
The Rouse Simmons Becomes the Christmas Tree Ship
Herman and August Schuenemann, brothers from what is now Algoma, Wisconsin, sold Christmas trees in Chicago around the start of the 20th century.
In a strange foreshadowing of the Rouse Simmons’ demise, August, known along the Lake Michigan coastline as “Christmas Tree Schuenemann”, died in November 1898 when his ship, carrying a load of Christmas trees to Chicago, sank along with all those on board.
Despite the tragedy of losing his brother, Herman continued the family business. Herman bought an interest in the Rouse Simmons in 1910 and expanded that share in 1912. A businessman from St James, Michigan, owned the controlling share of the ship.
Herman was a big fan of Christmas and loved sailing from northern Michigan to Chicago with fresh loads of trees. Long before the days of Christmas tree farms and artificial trees, thousands of Chicago residents gathered at the docks near the Clark Street Bridge, waiting to come aboard the ship to find the perfect family Christmas tree.
In those days, the return of the Rouse Simmons to Chicago was a sign that the Christmas season had truly arrived. Herman sold affordable trees directly to customers – usually for between 50 cents and a dollar – and still made a profit. His business venture was known for its slogan: “Christmas Tree Ship: My prices are the lowest!”
With a ship featuring electric Christmas lights and a tree on its main masthead, Herman affectionately became known as Captain Santa, giving some of his trees to needy families and local churches.
The Rouse Simmons Makes its Final Journey
On November 22, 1912, Herman loaded the Christmas Tree Ship with thousands of trees and took off from Thompson Harbor near Manistique, Michigan, planning a journey to Chicago.
Because the weather discouraged other business people from traveling, Herman hoped to make a big profit with his delivery.
Anyone who has studied Great Lakes shipwrecks knows that November is known for its violent and often unpredictable storms. November 1912 had seen relatively quiet conditions on the Great Lakes, but at that time, November had already built a reputation as a time when sailing the Great Lakes could be dangerous.
On the day of its journey, poor conditions, including 60 mph winds, caused many ships to anchor for shelter. Some crew members reportedly refused to board the Rouse Simmons due to weather conditions, but the ship eventually began its journey with trees packed into every available space.
From the outset, the journey proved to be treacherous. With so many trees packed onboard, the Rouse Simmons was far above its weight recommendations for cargo, and storms continued to hit the boat hard; two sailors were also swept overboard by a giant wave as they checked the lashings on the deck.
Though Herman directed the ship toward Bailey’s Harbor, Wisconsin, the storms worsened, with ice forming on the trees as waves continued to build.
The Rouse Simmons Goes Down
A lifesaving station in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, spotted the Christmas Tree Ship about five miles offshore on the afternoon of November 23, 1912.
By then, it was low in the water with tatted sales and was flying its flag at half-mast, a sign of an in-distress ship. A rescue vessel from Two Rivers went on a rescue mission to help the Rouse Simmons, but it had vanished; at least a dozen crew members, including Schuenemann.
The storm was said to be so bad that the Christmas Tree Ship was not the only ship to go down during that time, as three other ships suffered from similar fates.
Captain George Sogge and his crew searched for more than two hours around the site, battling an angry lake and icy conditions before turning back. Subsequent searches turned up no traces of the ship.
While explorers later discovered it northwest of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, south of Manitowoc, the Christmas Tree Ship could have sank in or near the infamous Lake Michigan Triangle.
The triangle, which stretches from Ludington to Benton Harbor in Michigan and across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, has been the site of strange phenomena, including the disappearance of dozens of ships and airplanes.
Clues to the Ship’s Demise
In the aftermath of the ship’s disappearance, debris from the wreckage over time offered clues to its fate.
Sometime after the wreck, a message in a bottle believed to be from the ship and signed by Captain Schuenemann washed ashore in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and was the only the ship’s remains found for several years. The message in the bottle read:
In December 1912, people reported finding Christmas trees and wreckage in Pentwater, Michigan, and commercial fishermen reportedly pulled up trees from the lake bottom for several years afterward. In 1924, fishermen found Herman’s wallet in a fishing net, and it was found in good condition, wrapped in oilskin. The wallet contained business cards and a newspaper clipping, among other things.
Discovering the Rouse Simmons
The famous Christmas Tree Ship was finally discovered in 1971 by Wisconsin diver Gordon Kent Bellrichard northeast of Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Bellrichard was searching for another ship, a 177-foot steamer called the Vernon that sunk in 1887. Instead, he found the Rouse Simmons settled on the lake bed, 172 feet below the surface.
Most of the enormous Christmas tree cargo the ship had on board is still in the ship’s hold, but a pair of trees extracted from the wreck were later displayed.
Shipwreck enthusiasts can find the ship’s wheel on display at the Rogers Street Fishing Village Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Yacht Club has the ship’s anchor on display.
The National Register of Historic Places added the shipwreck in 2006. The shipwreck is also within the boundaries of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The sanctuary contains 36 known shipwrecks and perhaps dozens more.
In 2006, a historical marker along US-2 in Thompson Michigan (near Manistique) was erected overlooking Lake Michigan
The Ongoing Legacy of the Christmas Tree Ship
For a time, the legacy of the Christmas Tree Ship lived on through Herman’s wife and children.
Just a few weeks after the Rouse Simmons went down, Herman’s daughter Elsie began to weave Christmas wreaths and garlands and made plans to dock a borrowed ship in the Chicago harbor to sell salvaged Christmas trees picked up along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Despite her grief, Barbara was in Chicago, selling trees and Christmas accessories to Herman’s old customers.
She continued to carry on her husband’s work for many years, even going into the wilds of Michigan’s U.P. and northern Wisconsin to hand-select trees for shipping. Year after year, her boat docked in Chicago to sell trees, and she became known as “The Christmas Tree Lady.”
In later years, the Schuenemann Christmas trees arrived in Chicago by train and sold in a Clark Street shop. The practice of shipping trees by boat was largely phased out by the 1920s as the increase in popularity of highways, railways, and even tree farms made it easier to go and buy a tree.
However, one Chicago organization is still paying tribute to the olden days.
Since 2000, Chicago’s Christmas Ship, a Chicago-based mariners group, formed an organization dedicated to providing disadvantaged families with Christmas trees, as Herman Schuenemann did decades ago.
Today, the USCGC Mackinaw arrives in port, and trees are offloaded by local volunteers and distributed to local families. Since its inception, the program has distributed hundreds of trees to needy families.
The Christmas Tree Ship’s legacy has also been honored in books and songs. A musical inspired by the ship, The Christmas Tree Schooner premiered in the winter of 1995. It won several awards and enjoyed a revival in 2011.
The Christmas Tree Ship is also the namesake of a 2008 instrumental album by the English band I Like Trains. Rochelle Pennington has detailed the incredible story of the Christmas Tree Ship in a book available on Amazon.
Learn More About Great Lakes Shipwrecks
While the final chapter of the Rouse Simmons, the famous Christmas Tree Ship, ended in tragedy, its story still resonates today. It’s one of many Great Lakes shipwrecks with a fascinating backstory that intrigues history buffs, young and old.
Michigan’s history with shipwrecks is well known, and museums like the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in the Upper Peninsula are great places to learn about ships such as the Edmund Fitzgerald. Through artifact displays, interactive exhibits, and tours, these museums offer a glimpse into life aboard the ships, their histories, and their place in Great Lakes lore.