Captain Santa and the sinking of the Rouse Simmons on Lake Michigan

During my Northwoods trip this summer Mrs. Marathon Pundit and I stopped at the shore of Lake Michigan in Thompson on the Upper Peninsula a few miles west of Manistique where we encountered the Christmas Tree Ship Michigan historical marker just off of US Route 2. It marks the departure point of the last journey of the Rouse Simmons, which sank off of Two Rivers, Wisconsin in 1912. There were no survivors.

In 1910 legendary ship captain Herman E. Schuenemann purchased a minority interest in the Rouse Simmons, which was built in 1868 and was one of the last schooners constructed for Great Lakes commerce. Born in Wisconsin a few years before the three-mast Rouse Simmons was christened, Schuenemann, who was known as Captain Santa in his adopted hometown of Chicago; transported Christmas trees from the U.P. to the Clark Street docks on the Chicago River. White pines and balsam firs, popular Christmas tree species, are common in the Northwoods. Conifer trees are not native to the Chicago area.

Had Schuenemann been operating a few decades later he'd certainly boast on television commercials that by purchasing from Captain Santa directly from his schooner decorated with electric lights--that was a novelty a century ago--you'd save money by "eliminating the middle man."

Blogger at Thompson at Lake Michigan

But by eliminating the middle man there was a terrible risk for Schuenemann.

Very soon after the Rouse Simmons and its crew of seventeen left Thompson 105 Novembers ago stuffed with anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 Christmas trees, a gale broke out. Because of its age it may not have been seaworthy. Another ship spotted the schooner with its flag flying at half mast--a distress signal of the time--off of Kewaunee, Wisconsin. The ship was not seen again until a scuba driver searching for another wreck discovered it on the bottom of Lake Michigan in 1971.

Niles, Illinois in 2007

After the sinking, pieces of Christmas trees washed up on the shores of Wisconsin and Michigan for months. In 1924 a fisherman's net recovered Schuenemann's wallet. By then Michigan's Christmas trees were delivered to Chicago by freight trains. Even today there are still some Christmas trees resting in the hold of the ship.

Coincidentally, Schuenemann's older brother perished in 1898 when the S. Thal, also carrying Christmas trees on a ship in November, sank on Lake Michigan north of Chicago.

After Captain Santa's death, his widow and his daughters continued selling Christmas trees in Chicago into the 1930s. In 1934 a shop named Captain and Mrs. Schuenemann's Daughters sold Christmas trees on the Near North Side, near the Clark Street docks.

Much information for this post comes from an article by Glenn V. Longacre that you'll find on the US Archives site and another one at Christmasship.org.