The Modern-Day Christmas Tree Ship

If you grew up in the Great Lakes, you are likely familiar with a ship that sank in 1912 — no, not that one.

Seven months after the Titanic met an iceberg in the North Atlantic, the three-masted schooner Rouse Simmons was lost with all hands in Lake Michigan. She went down off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, during a vicious storm on November 23, 1912.

Why do we remember this particular schooner when Lake Michigan has claimed many hundreds of ships?

The Rouse Simmons was special — she was the “Christmas Tree Ship.” When she foundered, she carried 5,500 pounds of Christmas trees to the bottom of the lake instead of to the families awaiting her in Chicago.

Despite the tragedy, Capt. Herman Schuenemann’s family kept the holiday spirit burning bright. His widow, Barbara, took up the mantle, selling trees until she passed away in 1933; her daughter carried on for several years after that.

Three generations of Schuenemanns pursued their heartfelt mission for six decades, deeply affecting the city of Chicago and the Upper Michigan communities of Thompson and Manistique, where Capt. Schuenemann and his older brother, August, first started harvesting evergreen trees in the 1870s and ’80s.

Their story remains a treasured one in this corner of the Upper Midwest, and thanks to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, their legacy on Lake Michigan endures. Every December for the last quarter century, the ship loads Christmas trees in northern Michigan and delivers them to Chicago families in need.

So much holiday cheer

This year is the 25th anniversary of the contemporary Chicago Christmas Ship. The Mackinaw will arrive in the city on Friday, December 6, 2024, and the Chicago Yacht Club will welcome VIPs, invited guests and tree donors to a reception from 6 to 9 p.m.

The public is invited to watch the main event on Saturday, December 7. Tree offloading will begin at 8:30 a.m., and the ceremony will begin at 10 a.m.

Chicago’s Christmas Ship is the city’s largest all-volunteer charitable support program for inner-city youth and their families during the holidays, with nearly 50 participating organizations. These include the U.S. Coast Guard and Ada S. McKinley Social Services, which selects the families that will receive trees.

“It’s such a team effort,” says Jeannette Greene, Mackinaw’s commanding officer. “We’re doing this to honor the Schuenemanns, pay tribute to a beloved story, and benefit the people in Chicago.”

Greene explains that 1,200 trees are purchased with donated funds from a farm in the U.P., which then travel aboard a decorated semi-truck to the Mackinaw’s home port of Cheboygan, Michigan. There, volunteers gather to load the trees.

“We usually load right after Thanksgiving, which is fun,” Greene says. “Schools like to help out as well, so we’ll have crew, families and kids all working together, and everyone has so much holiday cheer.”

The volunteers carefully load the trees on the Mackinaw’s fantail rather than on her main deck. This is intentional, Greene says, since the ship has a very different design to that of her predecessor.

As boat nerds know, the original USCGC Mackinaw was decommissioned in 2006 after 62 years of service. She was a full-time icebreaker, which meant the trees could be stored anywhere on deck.

The current Mackinaw, however, does double duty as an icebreaker and buoy tender. For several weeks in November and December, her crew pulls out Lake Michigan’s large buoys with the optical and sound features that ice can destroy; they replace them with smaller, ice-capable versions or nothing at all.

“We’re racing winter,” Greene says. “We have to keep the buoy deck free so we can continue our work; as soon as the Christmas tree event is over, we have to get back out there. Then, in the spring, we’ll put the big buoys back. It’s dangerous work. We need to always have our game faces on.

“When I think about the Schuenemanns’ old 123-foot wooden schooner carrying all that weight in terrible weather, with icing, I realize how far we’ve come,” she continues. “The Mackinaw is 240 feet long and 58 feet wide, so we’re very stable, and we’re built tough to handle these conditions.”

A unique ship design

Greene started her career in 2005 as part of the commissioning crew for the current Mackinaw, when the ship was still under construction at Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin (then a subsidiary of Manitowoc Marine Group, the shipyard today is part of Fincantieri Marine Group). She became commanding officer in 2022.

“I love this ship,” she says. “Naval architects used to make icebreakers as heavy as they could, with a football-shaped hull. This is so different.”

Mackinaw’s propulsion system incorporates two Azipods and a bow thruster, unique for the military. The system allows the ship to push a large amount of water in any direction.

“It’s a great tool, especially when we have to provide direct assistance to a vessel in hard water,” Greene explains. “We can relieve the pressure that holds a ship in place.”

An old-school icebreaker rises up on the ice and punches through it, creating a narrow, straight path through the ice. In contrast, the Mackinaw’s Azipods are designed to move the water that holds the ice up; they push the water aft and out, creating a much wider path that allows ships to keep moving.

“This ship is incredibly maneuverable with a dynamic positioning system,” Greene says. “A really smart computer talks to our propulsion system, which allows us to come within feet of a latitude-longitude point and stay in one spot.”

In icebreaking work, she observes, it’s often most effective for the Mackinaw to approach stern first. In that case, the ship’s aft bridge comes in handy.

“We will back up crazy close to the laker and push the water back and forth,” she says. “It’s like a big Jacuzzi. The ice collapses on itself.”

A tribute to the Schuenemanns

Greene clearly loves her work. She and her crew are responsible for keeping waterways open and freeing the massive lake freighters that haul lime, gravel, taconite and other raw materials that keep the wheels of the regional economy turning.

Great Lakes residents and visitors get attached to these lakers. Greene says she and her crew are no different; they also feel drawn to the big ships’ history and lore.

“We fangirl too,” she says with a laugh. “We wave. We blast the Great Lakes salute. We get it.”

Without question, that joy extends to the Mackinaw’s Christmas tree run. All sailors relish a port call, and this December, Greene and her crew will get a brief but much-needed break.

“It’s a fun city,” Greene says of Chicago. “We’re looking forward to delivering the trees, giving tours and meeting people.”

Through it all, they will remember the Rouse Simmons. In fact, each year on the way to Chicago, the Mackinaw travels over the schooner’s final resting place and drops a wreath.

“We want to connect to them, and to reflect,” Greene says.

Then they will carry on to Chicago, where they will be greeted by a scene that Capt. Schuenemann would have recognized.

“I guess the kids are gladdest of anyone to see us come pulling into the river every December,” he remarked to the Chicago Inter-Ocean in 1909. “There’s generally a crowd of children… they wave their hands and cheer, and we cheer back. Some of them think we are actually coming from the North Pole.”

Chicago erected its first city Christmas tree in tribute to the Schuenemanns, and more than 100,000 people paid their respects at the Christmas Eve tree lighting ceremony in 1913. Greene says it is an honor to play a role in keeping the family’s memory alive more than a century later.

“We are so grateful to be able to do this,” she says. “To the families of Chicago, and families everywhere, ‘Ho! Ho! Ho!’ from the crew of the Mackinaw!”

To learn more about Chicago’s Christmas Tree Ship, including how you can become a tree donor, visit CHRISTMASSHIP.ORG.