Inspired by This Famous Painting,

The Christmas Schooner,

By Charles Vickery

- Ninety Five Years Ago Today -

It was a blustery day in late November

When in northern Michigan they set sail

Their enormous cargo was very important

Anticipated more than the Christmas mail

Three hundred miles to the southward

In the bustling, frigid, city of Chicago

An eager, wide-eyed boy and his mother

Waited out on the wooden dock in the cold

They were anxiously awaiting the arrival

Of the wooden schooner, the Rouse Simmons

They eagerly awaited the unloading of its cargo

So their joyous Christmas could officially begin

The old schooner was very heavily weighted down

With over 5,000 freshly cut Michigan Christmas trees

And this very wide-eyed child in the old city of Chicago

Held his widowed mother’s hand on the old dock with glee

But a fierce, frigid, winter gale storm soon began a blowing

And a deadly snowstorm whipped the waters of Lake Michigan

The wind and the waves eventually sank the old Christmas Tree Ship

And its eighteen brave crew members tragically went to their watery end

Christmas that wretched year in Chicago

Was a very sad and bitterly cold Holiday

Especially for that young boy on the dock

Who was now much too forlorn to play

But every year in November, out on turbulent Lake Michigan

The old Christmas Tree Ship, Rouse Simmons, can still be seen

It heroic dead sailors still plying its gigantic wave-riddled waters

Still desperately trying to deliver their cargo so precious and green

- The following message was sent on November 27, 1912 -

“Schooner R.S. ready to go down about 20 miles southwest of Two Rivers Point,

Between 15-20 miles offshore. All hands lashed to one line.

Goodbye.”

Nelson,

First Mate, the Rouse Simmons

It's been 95 years since the Rouse Simmons, loaded with more than 5,000 Christmas trees, sank in a raging winter storm on Lake Michigan, but the legend of the old schooner fondly known as ‘The Christmas Tree Ship’ still lives on.

The exact location of the schooner’s wreckage was unknown until 1971, when a diver finally found it off the shores of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, in 180 feet of murky water.

But to this day, sailors out on Lake Michigan still report seeing a ghostly image of the 153-foot schooner in the bright moonlight - its sails all in tatters, fragrant green Christmas trees glistening on its deck – still stoically sailing southward – toward Chicago.

And each year, a Memorial Dinner is held in Milwaukee by the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society to honor the ship's 17 crew members and its Captain, who all died in the storm.

Captain Herman Shuenemann was known and loved by many a poor child in Chicago as ‘Captain Santa’ since he frequently gave free Christmas trees to needy families.

These days, the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, a Great Lakes Ice-breaking Ship, arrives at Navy Pier in Chicago just before the holidays, laden with many freshly cut Michigan Christmas trees.

And compassionate Coast Guardsmen now play ‘Captain Santa’ as they deliver hundreds of Christmas trees to disadvantaged families and needy children in the city of Chicago every year.

I’ve watched the faces of these beaming young children as they receive their very own Christmas tree.  And at that moment in time, Christmas truly does come alive for them.

And the Legend of Chicago’s Beloved Christmas Tree Ship Lives On.

Remarkably intact, she still rests upright on the floor of frigid Lake Michigan; her deck still holding the earthly remains of her brave crewmen who never made it home; and her cargo hold still filled to the brim with thousands of Christmas trees; especially that one special little tree that never made it to that extremely sad little boy’s sparsely decorated home for the Holidays.

©2007, Mr. Ed