The Wind Blows Cold

As I sit here in my warm home the day after Thanksgiving, the wind is blowing a gale from out of the northwest, making the windows give an occasional soft moan or shudder in disgust at such treatment as they are receiving today. This cold front that passed through early this morning harkens back to 100 years ago at this hour, when the schooner Rouse Simmons settled on Lake Michigan's floor laden with 5500 balsam and spruce trees, taking the lives of as many as seventeen of her crew. We do not know exactly who was aboard the ill-fated Christmas Ship on this, her last, voyage. Because this was a special trip every year, and not part of a regular schedule kept by the vessel, records are scarce if not actually missing.  But it is at times of reflection like today, an accounting of those lost so long ago seems most appropriate.

After consulting Fred Neushel's excellent book, Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships (Copyright 2007, University of Michigan Press), we do have information on most of those aboard. Certainly, Captain Herman Schuenemann was aboard and lost as was Captain Charles Nelson, a longtime friend of the Schuenemann family and most likely in command of the last voyage, having much more sailing experience than Captain Herman. Also, confirmed aboard was the first mate, Steven Nelson, sailors Charles Nelson, Frank Carlson, Engwald Newhouse, Philip Larson, Gilbert Swanson,  the cook, Albert Curta and Philip Bausewein, steward. These names were reported in the German-language newspaper Die Illinois Staats-Zeitung on December 6th. Others who may have been aboard, (actually probably were aboard) were day laborers and woodcutters not mentioned in the newspapers. Theodore Charrney, a historian who interviewed family and friends of those lost that day, recorded that William Oberg, Jacob Johnson, Sven Inglehart and Andrew Danielson were, also, on that ill-fated trip.  That still leaves three unaccounted for if the crew numbered seventeen. It was not uncommon for children in those days not to be included in the ship's manifest. Perhaps some extended family of the crew members were lost in that storm. I guess we will never know.

Other  mysteries surround this foundering. A surviving member of the crew, Hogan Hogansen, was quoted as saying he didn't make the trip because he felt the Simmons unsafe and overloaded. He returned to Chicago by train from up north. There may have been a heated discussion between the two Captains before departing from Thompson's Pier on November 22nd. Also, why did they not find a safe harbor in the coves and anchorages around St. Martin or Washington Islands or even Sturgeon Bay when the weather turned grim. Maybe, as Fred Neushel mentioned in his book, they were not thinking about not making it, they were focused only on succeeding. Again, we will never know.

What we do know is the sinking feeling that encompasses everyone who comes into contact, one way or another, with the loss of a ship. That feeling many of us had at the news of the Bounty sinking off of the Carolina coast in Hurricane Sandy late last month with the loss of two hands. It is a grim reality check, things will forever be different. It is our responsibility to remember and grieve, but then move on with a purpose and a renewed spirit that we can do more for others with our own time that we have left on this earth. To me, that is the true message of the story about Captain Schuenemann and the Rouse Simmons. After all, it is what his wife, Barbara, did for the rest of her life, as well as his daughters, Hazel, Pearl and Elsie. Their continuing the family business long after this tragedy is a wonderful example to us all, and something to be very thankful for this weekend.

Fair Winds!

Lee
http://www.amazon.com/Lives-Legends-Christmas-Tree-Ships/dp/0472033662
Copyright November 23, 2012 by Lee Murdock