Christmas Tree Ship Makes Annual Delivery For Needy Families
CHICAGO (CBS) -- U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw sailed into Navy Pier on Friday, carrying 1,500 Christmas trees and continuing a tradition dating to the late 1800s.
The trees carried by the Mackinaw will be distributed to 20 organizations that will provide Christmas trees for the less fortunate.
"It is one hell of a good Christmas tree ship," said, who Capt. Dave Truitt founded the Christmas Tree Ship Committee.
The Mackinaw was reenacting the voyage of a Great Lakes schooner Rouse Simmons, the original "Christmas Ship," which sank in 1912 en route to Chicago.
The Rouse Simmons was captained by Herman Schuenemann, said to be a boisterous, happy guy who loved beer and kids.
"The first thing he would do when he got here, get the biggest tree. He and a bunch of kids would take it to St. Paul's Church," Schuenemann said. That church once stood just a few blocks from Navy Pier. It has since moved to Lincoln Park.
Podcast
Simmons told the story of 4-year-old Ruthie Flesvig, who refused to leave the dock at Navy Pier after learning the Rouse Simmons had sunk in a storm in 1912 on its way to deliver Christmas trees to Chicago.
"She was the one who waited right here at Navy Pier. Father said 'Honey, why won't you go home? Everybody else has gone home,' and she said, 'Dad, you've got to understand, if you don't have a Christmas tree, you don't have Christmas,'" he said.
The old schooner now sits on the bottom of the lake, the skeletons of trees still visible on her deck.
