Radio & TV Questions

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS FOR RADIO, TELEVISION

and NEWSPAPER INTERVIEWS 

Rochelle M. Pennington, author of:

      The Christmas Tree Ship: The Story of Captain Santa

      The Historic Christmas Tree Ship: A True Story of Faith, Hope and Love 
 

Can you tell our listeners a brief summary of the Christmas Tree Ship story?

• True story, one of the most loved legends of the Great Lakes.
• The story centers on Captain Herman Schuenemann who delivered Christmas trees in the late 1800s and early 1900s on the shores of Lake Michigan. 
• The captain was nicknamed Captain Santa because he gave free trees away to orphanages, poor families, and churches.  
• The captain delivered trees for 25 years (from the 1880s until 1912). He was caught in “The Great Storm of 1912” with a ship full of Christmas trees on Lake Michigan and the vessel went to the bottom. Everyone on board was lost.
• The captain’s wife, Barbara, and their three daughters carried on for over 20 years in honor of Captain Santa, and in the spirit of everything he believed in. 
• Over the past 100 years, the story has been the subject of paintings, poems, songs, a stage musical performed across the nation every year (The Christmas Schooner), and four television specials featured on The Weather Channel, The Travel Channel, The Outdoor Channel, and The History Channel.   In addition, the Great Lakes Coast Guard began sailing a “new” Christmas Ship ten years ago in memory of the original vessel.  The Coast Guard loads one of its vessels with Christmas trees and sails the ship down Lake Michigan into Chicago the first weekend of December each year. All of the trees on board are given away free to needy families.
• The story is remembered today because it exemplifies the best of humanity.  At the heart of the story we find courage, generosity, devotion, and faith.

What are some of the ties to communities surrounding Lake Michigan?  

ILLINOIS connections:

• The cargo of trees was always destined for the Clark Street Bridge in Chicago.
• Captain Schuenemann lived on Clark Street with his family.
• Captain Schuenemann supplied trees each Christmas to many businesses in Chicago including Marshall Fields, Boston Store, Illinois Bell & Telephone Company, and City Hall.
• The Mayor of the city bought his Christmas tree each year from the Schuenemann family, as did the Fire Dept Chief and the Police Chief.
• There are several surviving quotations regarding the importance of Captain Schuenemann to Christmastime in Chicago a century ago including: “Christmas didn’t arrive in Chicago until Captain Schunemann’s ship docked at the Clark Street Bridge.”  Another quote is: “Captain Schuenemann and his ship were as much a part of Christmas in Chicago as Santa Claus.”
• The City of Chicago erected its first municipal Christmas tree in 1913. The tree was erected as a memorial to Captain Schuenemann.   100,000 people were present on Christmas Eve afternoon in 1913 when Mayor Harrison lit the tree and dedicated it to the memory of Captain Schuenemann.
• The Schuenemann gravesite is located in Chicago at the Acacia Park Cemetery. A lone Christmas tree is carved between the names of Herman and Barbara. It represents their common purpose.
• Illinois artist Charles Vickery, recognized as one of the foremost nautical painters in the world, painted several masterpieces of the Christmas Tree Ship during his lifetime. He lived in                 La Grange, Illinois.
• Captain Schuenemann’s last surviving grandson, Dr. William Ehling, lives in Streator, Illinois.
• The Great Lakes Coast Guard’s present-day cargo of trees, given in honor of Captain Santa, is delivered to Navy Pier in Chicago each Christmas.

WISCONSIN connections:

• The ship was built in Milwaukee in 1868.
• The ship was nicknamed the Christmas Tree Ship, but the vessel’s christened name was the Rouse Simmons.   The ship was named for a Kenosha, Wisconsin merchant, Rouse Simmons, who went on to found the Simmons Mattress Factory, one of Wisconsin’s oldest manufacturing firms.
• Captain Schuenemann was born and raised in Algoma, Wisconsin, 25 miles from Green Bay.  Wisconsin’s oldest winery is located in Algoma. The winery has been bottling a commemorative Christmas Tree Ship wine for the past decade in honor of their famous native son.
• The shipwreck site is located off the shore of Two Rivers (between Green Bay and Milwaukee). The Two Rivers area is known as “The Graveyard of the Lake” because of the large concentration of shipwrecks in this vicinity.
• The shipwreck site is one of the most popular dive sites on Lake Michigan because the ship is still loaded with its Christmas trees.
• The anchor to the ship was raised in the 1970s and is on permanent display at the entrance to the Milwaukee Yacht Club near the downtown area.  It is the largest artifact raised from the vessel.
• The second largest artifact, the captain’s wheel, came up in fishing nets in 1999 and is on permanent display at the Roger’s Street Fishing Village Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
• The State of Wisconsin erected a Wisconsin historical marker in Two Rivers on November 18, 2009 honoring the ship and its captain.  
• The Pier Wisconsin nautical museum in Milwaukee built an exact replica of the Christmas Tree Ship in the 1990s and uses it as a “floating classroom” to teach people about the historical importance of schooners in our nation’s past.   The replica vessel is named the Denis Sullivan, and the ship sails throughout the Great Lakes and the Caribbean Sea.

MICHIGAN connections:

• Captain Schuenemann harvested his trees in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan annually.
• The “new” Christmas ship is loaded each year by the Coast Guard in Cheboygan, Michigan.
• Charles Hackley, one of the wealthiest lumber barons on the Great Lakes in the 1800s, owned the Rouse Simmons for the longest period of time.  He was a resident of Muskegon, Michigan.  The ship spent the majority of its life in Muskegon.
• It was believed that the wreckage from the ship washed ashore at the Ludington State Park in Michigan during the 1950s.  This was disproved in 1971 when the entire vessel was found. 
• The State of Michigan erected a Michigan historical marker in Thompson, Michigan on October 21, 2006 honoring the ship and its captain.  

Was the ship ever found? 

• The vessel was found in 1971 by a Milwaukee diver, Kent Bellrichard.  Mr. Bellrichard was nicknamed “The Jacques Cousteau of the Great Lakes” because of the large number of shipwrecks he located.
• The ship was missing for almost 60 years and was eventually located in approximately 170 feet of water.
• Divers nicknamed the vessel “The Ghost of Christmas Past.”
• The ship is still loaded with Christmas trees today.  The trees are now nicknamed “skeleton trees,”  “bald trees,” or “Christmas poles” (if only the trunk remains).

Were any of the artifacts from the vessel raised?

• The ship’s anchor was raised in the 1970s and is on permanent display at the Milwaukee Yacht Club.  The captain’s wheel was tangled in fishermen’s nets in 1999 and placed in the Roger’s Street Fishing Village Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. It was missing for 87 years.
• Many artifacts were raised and placed on permanent display at various museums.
• The cost to raise the entire vessel in 1971 would have totaled in excess of one million dollars.  This was never done.
• Many of the original trees raised were carved into ornaments and bookmarks.

Omens/Superstitions:

• Rats deserted the ship; the vessel left on a Friday (a bad omen); 13 men were on board; horseshoe; premonitions; the vessel is called Lake Michigan’s “Flying Dutchman” because it is said that the ghost ship rises from its watery grave every Christmas, and is still trying to deliver its cargo of trees.    Sightings have occurred on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and November 23 (the anniversary date of the ship’s loss).

Can you tell us about the specific clues that washed up during the past century besides the wheel?

• Trees washed ashore – thousands!  These trees were so preserved because of the frigid waters at the bottom of the lake that if a tree washed up in November or December in the 1920s (or even the 1930s!) you could take the tree home and use it as your Christmas tree that year.
• A wooden suitcase/trunk belonging to a crew member washed ashore.
• Captain Schuenemann’s wallet (filled with newspaper clippings and Captain Schuenemann’s personal business card) was found in April of 1924 after being submerged for over 12 years.  Everything inside the wallet was perfectly preserved because the wallet had been placed inside a waterproof sailor’s packet.  Captain Santa’s wallet was found by another captain, and the name of his ship was The Reindeer.  TRUE!
• A lightbulb from the shipwreck site surfaced when divers were moving debris on the Christmas Tree Ship.  The bulb was not shattered from the pressurized depth, which was very unusual.  The bulb had been underwater for 59 years and it still lit!

Can you please tell our listeners about your program (Date, Time, Location)?      

What is the difference between your two books?