The Christmas Tree Schooner
Herman Schuenemann was not a wealthy man, most sailors aren’t. But he was successful, well-respected, and had a loving wife and three daughters. He married his wife Barbara in 1891. They were both of German descent in a time when the area of Chicago was rapidly growing in Germanic and European population. Having been born in Wisconsin, Schuenemann moved to Chicago and established himself as a merchant mariner and a schooner captain.
At the same time, the German tradition of decorating pine trees in your home during Christmas significantly increased in popularity. Combined with the budding German community and this new trend, the demand for baby pine trees soared, thus was born the Christmas tree trade.
Show Notes:
[01:04] The beginning of the Christmas tree trade
10s of 1000s of young trees were felled in northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and even Canada. They were then boarded on schooners and sailed down to Chicago and into other ports on the Great Lakes and sold directly off the ship.
[01:39] Captain Herman Schuenemann/Captain Santa
Captain Herman Schuenemann was hearty and successful for over 20 years. He made the trip north and back down again bringing Christmas trees and Christmas cheer with him. Upon arriving in Chicago, he would hoist up a decorated tree into his rigging, along with a sign that said Christmas trees for sale. Barbara and the three girls would make Christmas decorations, garland, and wreaths to sell all adding to the festivity of the matter.
It was said that Christmas and Chicago had not begun until Captain Schuenemann arrived with his trees. He was friendly, personable and very popular. He was the sort of guy people just love to be around and love to talk to. He was generous of spirit and gave away many of the trees on his ship to the city's churches and to the poor. This generosity earned him the nickname and reputation of Captain Santa. It was a marketing strategy but it was also a name which he bore with immense pride and honor.
[03:11] The Rouse Simmons
He purchased a share in the Rouse Simmons, a 205-ton three-masted beast. The Rouse Simmons had been built in Milwaukee some 40 years previous. Herman Schuenemann didn't have the money to buy his own ship, but he truly loved what he did. He eventually became a 1/8 shareholder of the ship. The Rouse Simmons made him proud and he loved her; however, the age of sail was coming to an end. Everyone knew it. Steam was taking over. The Rouse Simmons and Herman, known as Captain Santa were among the last to operate in their trade.
[04:38] Shipwrecked
On Friday, the 22nd of November 1912, two years after purchasing the Rouse Simmons, Captain Santa and his crew set off from Thompson Michigan with over 3000 Christmas trees onboard. Some reports even claimed there were nearly 5500 trees on that ship when it departed from the port. Eyewitnesses claimed she looked like a floating forest. Unfortunately, the age-old saying of never leave port on a Friday held true for the Rouse Simmons and her crew. Captain Schuenemann's departure coincided with the beginnings of a nasty winter gale storm. On the Great Lakes gales come up swift and fierce unlike storms at sea. The shallowness of the lakes by comparison creates a much shorter distance between wave crests making the sea state much more treacherous.
[05:37] Never seen again
The day after their departure, the life-saving station in Kewaunee, Wisconsin spotted a ship that matched the description of the Rouse Simmons. Could it be them? Would they be saved? Had Schuenemann and his crew survived the night before? Their flag was flying at half-mast a universal sign of distress. Unfortunately, the station had no rescue boat available and quickly contacted the next station to the south as the Rouse Simmons drifted away into the cold dark night. The Rouse Simmons was never seen again.
[06:00] The message in the bottle
A few days following the tragedy some fishermen found a message in a bottle. The following message read: “Friday, Everybody goodbye. I guess we are all through. Sea washed off our deck load. During the night small boat washed off. Leaking badly. Engwald and Steve fell overboard Thursday. God help us, Herman Schuenemann.”
[06:34] The aftermath
It is unknown how many crew were on board the Rouse Simmons when she went down. Some estimate the violent storm took somewhere between 17 and 23 lives, all drowned. Months after the tragedy, Christmas trees continued to wash up along the shoreline near Chicago, a grim reminder of the fate of the sailors whose lives were lost to the great storm. Eventually, the people in the area carried on. The lake, a sad reminder of a husband, father, businessman, and his crew well-loved. The Christmas tree trade on schooners had ended by 1920. Barbara and her daughters, however, carried on the family business using some of the ships as a platform to sell the trees from but now transporting them by a train.
[07:10] Wreckage of the Rouse Simmons
In 1924, twelve years after the sinking of the Rouse Simmons some fishermen in Wisconsin hauled in their nets to discover a wallet wrapped in waterproof oilskin. The wallet and its pristine contents belong to none other than Captain Herman Schuenemann. Adding along to the mystique nearly 60 years after the loss of the ship and its crew, her wreck was discovered by scuba diver Gordon Kent Bellrichard. The wreckage of the Rouse Simmons tells a sad tale of snapping masts and a ship that was attempting to sail for safety. Many of the pine trees were still in the hole one and have been extracted and used as exhibits. The ship has been a topic of mystery and stories for over a century now.
[08:09] Legacy of the Christmas Tree Schooner
The legacy of the Christmas Tree Schooner lives on in Chicago and in northern Michigan. Every year the final voyage of the Rouse Simmons is commemorated by the United States Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, which makes the journey from northern Michigan to deliver a symbolic load of Christmas trees. The Coast Guard works in relation with the charity Chicago's Christmas Ship founded in 2000 by a group of seafarers who wanted to honor the legacy of Captain Schuenemann. Every Christmas season they distribute Christmas trees to disadvantaged families in the Chicago area who would otherwise not be able to have a tree. I'd like to think Herman and Barbara would have been proud.
