Rouse Simmons 1912
Marker: recorded wreck position (Steam era).
Key facts
| Name | Rouse Simmons | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1912 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Steam era | derived from year |
| Ship type | schooner | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Storm or weather | Wikidata P828 has cause (on P793 event): storm |
| Nationality / flag | United States | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Nearest coast | United States | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | 44.2752, -87.4157 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Rouse Simmons was a three-masted schooner famous for having sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago with a cargo of Christmas trees when it foundered off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, killing all on board.
The legacy of the schooner lives on in the area, with frequent ghost sightings and tourist attractions whereby its final route is traced. It was known as The Christmas Tree Ship and was one of many schooners to transport Christmas trees across the lake. However, with railroads, highways, and tree farms proving much more economical, the tree-shipping industry was on a steep decline and by 1920 they stopped sailing.
Diving & visiting
In December 1912 Christmas trees and wreckage were reported ashore at Pentwater, Michigan.
In 1924 a fishing net trawled up a wallet belonging to Captain Schuenemann. The wallet, well preserved because it was wrapped in oilskin, contained business cards, a newspaper clipping and an expense memorandum. In 1971 the wreck itself was discovered by scuba diver Gordon Kent Bellrichard from Milwaukee. Bellrichard was searching for the Vernon, a 177-foot, 700-ton steamer that had sunk in a storm in October 1887, and had been told about an area in which local fishermen had frequently snagged their nets.
Location
- Recorded position: 44.2752, -87.4157 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: United States
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Rouse Simmons (revision 1372501287), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck and debris”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- SS Vernon 1887 · 8 km
- SS Continental 1904 · 9 km
- SS S.C. Baldwin 1908 · 10 km
- Arctic 25 km
- Home 1858 · 38 km
- Daniel Lyons 45 km
Browse more: North America wrecks · wrecks off United States · Steam era