Rouse Simmons

The ROUSE SIMMONS was a 124-foot three-masted schooner built in Milwaukee in 1868 by Allen, McClelland & Co.  The 42-year-old vessel sank during a violent storm on November 23, 1912 in Lake Michigan off the coast of Two Rivers, Wisconsin.   The ship known as the “Christmas Tree Ship” was delivering roughly 5,500 Christmas trees from Thompson, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois. Although the Kewaunee Life-Saving Station observed the ship sailing south and flying a distress signal 5 miles offshore, a lifeboat sent north from the Two Rivers Station failed to find her.  All aboard were lost, including her owner, Captain Herman Schuenemann, and several lumberjacks catching a ride to Chicago. After the sinking, Christmas trees turned up on beaches all over the Lake as far away as Pentwater, Michigan. Barabara, the wife of “Captain Santa” and their two daughters continued delivering Christmas trees to Chicago by rail and selling them from a boat tied to the dock.

In 1923, a fisherman trawled up Captain Schuenemann’s wallet in his fishing net.  In 1971, Milwaukee scuba diver Gordon Kent Bellrichard discovered the vessel’s remains 12 miles northeast of Two Rivers, Wisconsin.  Bellrichard was searching for the steamer Vernon that had sunk in a storm in October 1887 and had been told about an area in which local fishermen had often snagged their nets. When investigating the area, his sonar picked up a promising target. He dove down about 172 feet to a shipwreck on the bottom of the Lake. Despite the light failing, Bellrichard managed to survey the wreckage with his hands and concluded that he had indeed found the schooner ROUSE SIMMONS.

The discovery identified where the ROUSE SIMMONS ended up, but still unanswered was the cause of the sinking.  The ROUSE SIMMONS was found facing northwest toward the shore, not south in the direction of Chicago.  Since the port anchor was found lying 170 feet north of the bow, it appears the ship had turned into the wind and attempted to anchor.  The length of the anchor chain, depth of the water and the ferocity of the wind would have made anchoring impossible.  The large waves of Lake Michigan sent the ROUSE SIMMONS and all aboard to the bottom.  To this day there remain undelivered Christmas trees from 1912 in the hold of the ship.

The ROUSE SIMMONS lies upright at a depth of 165 feet, six miles northeast of Rawley Point in Manitowoc County at 44 degrees 16.640’ N, 87 degrees 24.863’ W.  ROUSE SIMMONS is in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast NMS, listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is marked annually by a NOAA mooring buoy.