Joy of Christmas

Researchers are learning more about the so-called Christmas Tree Ship that sank in Lake Michigan en route to Chicago 84 years ago.
The three-masted schooner Rouse Simmons apparently was not driven south by gale winds from the north, as researchers had presumed.

A diving expedition this past summer found that the ship’s 17-man crew actually was trying to head for a safe harbor when it sank bow first.

Wisconsin underwater archaeologist Keith Merveden says the ship wreckage was pointing north by northwest.

The schooner was believed to be carrying more than 5,000 Christmas trees when it set sail November 21st, 1912 from Manistique (man-uh-STEEK), Michigan on a voyage to downtown Chicago.

Every year, Captain Herman Schuenemann (SHOE-nuh-mann) sold the trees for 50 cents to one dollar each or gave them away to needy families.

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