Rouse Simmons
 Last known photograph of the Rouse Simmons
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Rouse Simmons |
| Builder: | |
| Launched: | August 15, 1868 |
| Identification: | US 110087 |
| Nickname(s): | "Christmas Tree Ship" |
| Fate: | Foundered and sunk on November 23, 1912 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Three mast schooner |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 123.5 ft (37.6 m) |
| Beam: | 27.6 ft (8.4 m) |
| Height: | 8.4 ft (2.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Crew: | 5 |
| Notes: | 17 persons lost in sinking |
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Rouse Simmons (shipwreck)
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| Location | Lake Michigan, 6 miles (9.7 km) off Point Beach, Wisconsin |
| Coordinates | 44°16′30.6″N 87°24′56.4″W / 44.275167°N 87.415667°WCoordinates: 44°16′30.6″N 87°24′56.4″W / 44.275167°N 87.415667°W |
| MPS | Great Lakes Shipwreck Sites of Wisconsin MPS |
| NRHP Reference # | 07000197 |
| Added to NRHP | March 21, 2007 |
The Rouse Simmons was a three-masted schooner famous for having sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago with a cargo of Christmas trees when it foundered off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, killing all on board.
The legacy of the schooner lives on in the area, with frequent ghost sightings and tourist attractions whereby its final route is traced. It was known as The Christmas Tree Ship and was one of many schooners to transport Christmas trees across the lake. However, with railroads, highways, and tree farms proving much more economical, the tree-shipping industry was on a steep decline and they had stopped sailing by 1920.
The Rouse Simmons was built in Milwaukee in 1868 by Allan, McClelland, & Company, and named after a Kenosha businessman Rouse Simmons. The schooner was soon purchased by wealthy lumber magnate Charles H. Hackley of Muskegon, Michigan and joined his sizeable fleet. Hackley's ships served across most of Lake Michigan's coastline, and the Rouse Simmons became a workhorse, shipping lumber from company mills to several ports around the lake for around 20 years. At its peak the schooner was making almost weekly runs between Grand Haven and Chicago.
After its service for Hackley the ship exchanged hands several times. Many similar schooners were also frequently sold and they became known as "tramp ships". In 1910 Herman Schuenemann bought an interest in the ship, expanding that to an eighth in 1912. The other shares were owned by Captain Charles Nelson of Chicago, who owned one eighth and would sail alongside Schuenemann on the fatal journey, and three fourths (the commanding share) were owned by Mannes J. Bonner, a businessman from St. James, Michigan.
The Schuenemann brothers, Herman and August, had been trading Christmas trees in Chicago since around the start of the 20th century. August died in November 1898 aboard the S. Thal – a 52-ton, two-masted schooner – when it sank in a storm near Glencoe, Illinois. His younger brother continued the family business. While many rival traders had sold to wholesalers and local grocers, Schuenemann sold directly to Chicago residents at dockside by Clark Street Bridge. By cutting out the middleman in this way the trees could be sold cheaply while still making a profit. The venture used the slogan "Christmas Tree Ship: My Prices are the Lowest", with electric Christmas lights and a tree atop the main mast. The trees were sold for between 50 cents and $1, but Herman Schuenemann, affectionately known as "Captain Santa", also gave away some of the trees to needy families.
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Wikipedia