Page 20: of Marine News Magazine (January 2, 2010)

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Among the many traditions of the holiday season is that of the Christmas tree. Most such trees purchased in urban areas are grown in rural areas and transported in quantity to the city.

While most trees are transported by truck, in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, communi- ties located on waterways had some

Christmas trees delivered by ship. A well-loved tradition in Chicago devel- oped around the turn of the century.

Herman Schuenemann owned a small fleet of lumber ships operating between the forests of Wisconsin and the city of Chicago. One of his ships was the three-masted schooner Rouse

Simmons. Each November, he would devote the final voyage of the season to carrying a load of Christmas trees to

Chicago. Captain Schuenemann would sell the trees directly to the public from the ship tied up near the

Clark Street Bridge in Chicago. A tree was tied to the top of the main mast and lights were strung in the rigging.

He called his venture the “Christmas

Tree Ship.” Trees were generally sold for about a dollar each, but Captain

Santa, as he was affectionately called, also donated trees to poor families. In late November 1912, Captain

Schuenemann and his crew departed

Thompson Harbor, Wisconsin with a cargo of over 5,000 Christmas trees.

On November 23, a surfman from the

Kewaunee Life-Saving Station spotted the Rouse Simmons offshore flying the distress signal. A rescue tug was dispatched, but the ship was never seen afloat again; it had sunk with all hands lost. The family continued the business for some years afterwards, mostly using a ship as a mere platform for the sale of trees brought to

Chicago by truck. In 2000, the U.S.

Coast Guard icebreaker Mackinaw, in cooperation with a local charity, revived the tradition by bringing

Christmas trees to Chicago for distri- bution to needy families at the begin- ning of each holiday season. That tra- dition lives on with the new

Mackinaw, which replaced the origi- nal in 2006. Various coastal communi- ties have their own Christmas tree ships, each of which are treasured parts of local traditions, but the most memorable of all was that operated by

Captain Santa.

Posted to Maritime Musings on

MaritimeProfessional.com by

Dennis Bryant on 12/25/2009

Christmas Tree Ship

Delivering a Holiday Tradition (Photo Courtesy Tamara Thomsen, Wisconsin Historical Society)

A diver views the submerged

Rouse Simmons schooner. 20 MN January 2010