The Ghost Ship
"And my eyes caught on a rising pinewood forest
Growing up from the deck of a ghost they called Rouse Simmons..."
Many months ago, I was given a book as a very, very early Christmas gift: The Christmas Tree Ship, by Carol Crane, and the story and paintings within those pages unlocked memories I had forgotten. (The book is beautiful by the way and would make a great Christmas present if you need any Christmas present ideas...)
Reading this true story, I suddenly remembered walking into the Steel Beam Theater in St. Charles, Illinois, with my family in 2004 to see a musical called "The Christmas Schooner". The play was wonderful and heartbreaking and lovely...
On a late-November night in 1912, a ship called the Rouse Simmons was carrying thousands of Christmas trees to Chicago. Leaving Thompson Harbor, Michigan, the captain and crew made this voyage every year, trading their normal cargo of lumber for soft evergreens to share a little bit of Christmas with the families watchfully waiting for them at the docks by the Clark Street Bridge.
They sold trees and garlands for less than a dollar each, but the captain soon became lovingly known as Captain Santa because he would often give the trees away to families, not accepting payment.
The Christmas ship was lost in a terrible, angry storm that icy November. People did claim to see the vessel in the days and weeks that followed, but the Christmas trees that washed up along the shore confirmed a different story. Nonetheless, for awhile... it was a ghost ship. I am certain I too would have preferred to believe the tricks on the eyes to the tragedy.
Captain Herman Schuenemann's wife, Barbara, longed to carry on her husband's tradition, seeing it for what it was--a good-hearted, open-handed Christmas gift that so many looked forward to every year. Holding his memory close and continuing to make the trip he had loved was a way to help the captain's goodwill live on.
Today, 109 years later, the Coast Guard now delivers trees to Chicago for Christmas.
(In a recent radio interview, I misspoke and said it was the Air Force... I was quite embarrassed to be me. Just the other day, my niece sent me some of her artwork--an illustration of a "Ghost Plane" flying over and dropping off Christmas trees from the sky... It is one of the funniest things I've ever been surprised with.)
The captain and his crew live on. One of my favorite categories of "things to write about" is True Stories. Well, this one grabbed a hold of my heart and wouldn't let go. The more I read about this captain and his crew, the more I believed I knew them. This different time didn't feel so far away, and I wanted to capture my own misty glimpse of the ghost ship...
And to join Barbara in keeping alive the memory of Captain Santa.
“Merry Christmas to you and yours from me and all of mine...”
All the love,
Brittany
P.S. You can listen to "The Ghost Ship" here!