Captain Santa and the Christmas Tree Ship

[@ronaneoganain]

This past weekend I just finished performing the role of Gustav Stossel, German immigrant father of Schooner Captain Peter Stossel, in a musical titled "The Christmas Schooner". The play is inspired by the story of Herman Scheunemann and the Rouse Simmons. While watching a THG episode a few weeks ago I thought this would be a great topic for an episode and got a great smile when I saw it come up today. Thanks so much for the episode!

[@truthsRsung]

A wonderful history of Humans consistently taking greater and greater risks to place dead trees in homes for a couple weeks. Truly Inspiring.

[@kimfleury]

​@@truthsRsungwell aren't you a little ray of sunshine

[@truthsRsung]

@@kimfleury ...You don't like Light? What chances would you take to put a decoration in your house? One that was just recently a living thing? These idiots were Greed Personified, but you go on believing that it was "Christmas Cheer" they were spreading.

[@raymondcaylor6292]

​@@truthsRsungnot the dumbest comment you've made on this channel but there's over 400 to choose from. If you don't want to put a cut Christmas Tree in your house you don't have to. You can put up a live tree and replant after the holiday. You can put up an artificial tree. Or you can put up no tree at all. Everyone has a choice. Hell, you don't have to celebrate Christmas at all. Why do you feel the need to involve yourself with what other people do ? Do you believe you have the oratory or writing skills to persaud ? Pound sand and Merry Christmas.

[@truthsRsung]

@@raymondcaylor6292 ... I didn't comment to ridicule a religious practice. Risking ones life, livelihood, and employees to supply that window dressing is the insane part, that gets glossed over with more tinsel. I have been on Lake Michigan in both good and bad weather. One makes you think of all the things you haven't experienced in life. If these people parished while attempting to deliver food and medicine in a Season they Knew to be Risky, I could Forgive the Tone of the Story.

[@bryanv4081]

That's great to hear that the Coast Guard reenacts the voyage and provides tree for the needy.

[@rickieoakes5267]

You can always depend on the US Coast Guard 😉

[@johnopalko5223]

@@rickieoakes5267 Semper Paratus!

[@timeintheoutdoors]

I’m a dry suit scuba diver here in Wisconsin. I’ve been down to see this wreck. There are still Christmas trees in the hold with needle still on them. This wreck is deep and you must have very specialized training to see it. Thanks for doing this one. Never thought I would see your KZbin show do something that I have actually seen. Keep sharing the history. Happy Holidays!

[@JeepWrangler1957]

Proud member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and the USCGC Mackinaw is now the Chicago Christmas Tree Ship.

[@lisanadinebaker5179]

Our fourth, often overlooked, branch of the Military, who constantly does more with less around the world. Much respect and appreciation to you.

[@RetiredSailor60]

Good morning & Merry Christmas History Guy and everyone watching....RIP to all who were lost on the Great Lakes

[@grumpyolman405]

Same to you!

[@CoastieReid]

Love that you have done so much coastie history, I'm 110 day from retiring after 25 years of service in the USCG. So much history no one knows about. Thank you.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

Wonderful story of the Captain’s life and that his wife and daughters continued his hard work and generosity 🤗❤️🐝🎄

[@jonathanwetherell3609]

My Compliments of the Season to all history buffs and best wishes for 2024.

[@PhantomLover007]

Awesome story. Tragic for the loss of crew and ship, but beautiful for the continuation of a local tradition

[@Twolegger]

Would there still be any Shunemann’s in the area do you suppose? My clan arrived from Germany to Chicago before this time frame so I wonder if they knew of or partook of the trees arriving via the risk and labor of this fellow German family.

[@truthsRsung]

​@@Twolegger...You asked the Comment Section on uTube when you should have used a Search Engine, or a phone book, or a Library. You got one thing Right. This Captain made a business out of taking Risks. Buying junk ships, sailing out of season, and delivering a Non Essential Product in the Process. I suggest you distance yourself from people who act like this.

[@kimfleury]

​@@truthsRsungyou aren't doing anything to make the world better.

[@truthsRsung]

@@kimfleury ...I don't pay someone once a year to kill something 500 miles away so my living room looks more cheerful in the deep winter. You don't like my perspective, fine. Live in your own little world, where Santa can survive without Christ, and Shipping Seasons get extended for a non-essential good. How about you pull you head out of from wherever you stuck it?

[@CanadaCornrow]

This story is well known in Two Rivers, WI and was taught in history class when I was in grade school. The ship went down near our town and the local Coast Guard did what they could to no avail. Many of the trees eventually washed up on shore along the coast between Two Rivers and Manitowoc.

[@frankgulla2335]

THG, what great tale of Christmas trees and sailing (but no pirates) on the Great Lakes. Thank you.

[@MikeGratis]

From Cape Cod, Massachusetts, "Sea Stories" have always had great interest for me. History, too, obviously. Thoroughly enjoyed this. 😊

[@wendywhite4537]

I’ve heard of The Christmas Tree Ship through the Great Lakes Shipwrecks. Thank you for expanding on the story. Merry Christmas!

[@WinterInTheForest]

When Chicago was at its zenith, a thriving and beautiful city.

[@robertgoerss]

Thank you for the touching story of perseverance and loss.

[@truthsRsung]

It is a story of insane risks and the inevitable outcome. It touches you when people die for no good reason? Those weren't medical supplies or food on those wrecks. They were decorations...makeup...fluff.

[@robertgoerss]

@@truthsRsung It does not touch me when people die for taking meaningless risks. Please re think your assumptions prior to your analysis and conclusions.

[@truthsRsung]

@@robertgoerss ...You are the one that said this is a touching story, not me. You just believe in the Christmas Glaze of Sugary Death that it is Slathered in.

[@robertgoerss]

@@truthsRsung I do not believe in religious holidays. Any. Religion is a form of social control, propaganda, a replacement for scientific k owledge. Yet I find others' commitments important to recognize. It is a long way to learning the essence of the universe, which in fact its utter essence may or may not have physical properties. Yet I do not get off on ridiculing how others dedicate themselves to a line of work or their beliefs and their traditions. One must remain skeptical and open minded to prevent for instances the utter destruction of the Americas which occurred as a result of the opening of the Americas by Europeans which in less than 400 years caused the loss of over 2500 plants and animals to extinction, the near total loss of all indigenous human beings, as well as mass slavery and the destruction of significant ground, and water, etc. Much work humans do today is frivolous and destructive. Look around, greed and fear are at the forefront of human effort.

[@patrickols]

The number of lost ships on The Great Lakes is incredible. The weather can change very quickly on these inland seas and with so many ships navigating these important roads of commerce and communication it made it a given that so many ships would just disappear in these vast body of waters. May all sailors found a rest from their long labours, they help made North America what it as become

[@djohnson9083]

Very enjoyable and poignant. Have a wonderful Christmas. Thank you for entertaining and educating my daughter and me with your great content.

[@mattfobear9532]

Just love that even when I think I know a story, I can still learn new things about it when you tell it 🙂 This is why I would love it if you would do a story on the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, widely regarded as the worst ever to hit the lakes. Toward the end of this story you mentioned November of 1913, coincidentally when the "Great Storm" occured.

[@kimfleury]

If I'm not mistaken, he has done an episode on the Great Blow of 1913. I'm in Port Huron, at the mouth of Lake Huron. In the centennial year of 2013, there were 40ft tall banners on buildings all around the city. That's how high the waves were.

[@tommyanderson-filmmaker3976]

My good friend Steve Scheunemann lives near me here in So California and this was his Great Great Grandfather. We both grew up in the Chicago area and knew the story of the Christmas Tree Ship well.

[@gerardjohnson2106]

A beautiful story of America and her beautiful immigrants. Merry Christmas to all. 👍👍👏🇺🇲

[@WinterInTheForest]

Beautiful *European* immigrants

[@firstsisterJML1330]

Yes, I've been studying our family tree and most of my family is made up of those midwestern immigrants.

[@SantaFe19484]

I saw three ships go sailing in on Christmas day in the morning!

[@glenmartin2437]

Thank you and Merry Christmas. Never heard of this tragedy. I have been aboard ship during a Pacific typhoon and that was frightful enough for me as a nine-year-old. Hearty souls who sailed and still sail on Lake Michigan. Thanks again. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

[@stuartriefe1740]

Good morning from Connecticut fellow classmates! Have a safe and peaceful Holiday and we’ll all look forward to more Remembered History in 2024!

[@michaelgalea5148]

Merry Christmas History Guy and I hope you and your family have a great Christmas Day.

[@skyden24195]

I had heard of this story once before but had since forgotten about it until The History Guy brought it up (snark) again. Additionally, though, I had not known that the captain's family continued the tradition of delivering Christmas trees to Chicago. Such a juxtapose story of tragedy and perseverance of a heart-warming tradition.

[@robwar2288]

I’ve been to the UP once I can’t imagine that Beautiful Lake being Rough!!😮

[@kimfleury]

Up on the UP coast it tends to be quieter. It's more energetic at its western end.

[@larryheystek4166]

As Gordon Lightfoot wrote, "T'was the witch of November come stealin'". A year later a "White Hurricane" hit the Great Lakes sinking a dozen ships killing 250 sailors. As a native Michigander, you always respect the lakes. Lance, Merry Christmas and thanks for another enjoyable year of history.

[@garylefevers]

I first heard of the Christmas Tree Ship on an episode of When Weather Changed History on he Weather Channel. Fascinating and sad. Thank you for covering this. Hope everyone who celebrates have a wonderful Christmas and those who do not Happy Holidays. Stay safe folks.

[@Nicksonian]

Not heard the name Simmons in decades but it’s burned in my brain. I have a thread of connection to the last three ships remembered by the history guy. I was born in Kenosha Memorial Hospital across the street from my grandmother’s house which was six doors down from Simmons Library and park. But until now, I knew nothing of Simmons, or the boat that bore his name. The last two ships discussed here were the Maryland and the Chesapeake-Maryland being my longtime home, and living a few miles from the Chesapeake.

[@anthonycade9034]

Man I love these stories from the past and especially the way you tell them.

[@HM2SGT]

*Sir, you remind me of a personality back home in New Hampshire; Fritz Weatherbee. He has been doing a wonderful series of a similar nature on WMUR New Hampshire Chronicle; similarly to Paul Harvey's tagline, Fritz invites you to listen in his Granite State accent- **_"I'll tell you the story, tonight on New Hampshire Chronicle."_** 😃*

[@timothymulholland7905]

My grandfather was a lumberman in the PNW. He would go out in the forest every year and cut down the tree for his family. He tied it to the roof of his trusty Ford.

[@mercster]

Merry Christmas sir, wishing you and yours good tidings.

[@mikestafford2792]

Merry Christmas history guy. I grew up in Ohio so know Lake Erie. Those lakes are treacherous in the fall.Looking forward to more history in 2024.

[@Eric_Hutton.1980]

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year @The History Guy

[@Stephan-bj3lh]

Love that music makes me want to dance!!!!!!!.Great job .

[@clazy8]

Great story

[@michaelbaumgardner2530]

Most interesting story,here in western NC where I live we grow thousands of Christmas Trees.

[@Nicksonian]

My new stay-busy-in-retirement job is working in a garden center in Annapolis, Maryland. That meant selling Christmas trees. Most of the Fraser firs we sold came from North Carolina. Makes me wonder if ships bearing trees once came up the Chesapeake Bay. Ours came by semi-truck. Nothing like offloading 600 trees.

[@michaelbaumgardner2530]

​@@NicksonianIt's hard work

[@BlasphemousBill2023]

Merry Christmas from Michigan. I love Great Lakes ships and shipwrecks :) thanks! I enjoyed it very much!

[@-jeff-]

Merry Christmas all! 🎄

[@SirKenchalot]

Merry Christmas Lance and Mr. History Guy! I love you content and feel I been watching you for a decade or so. God bless and Happy New Year!

[@jeffbangkok]

Another great bit of History from THG

[@llapmsp]

Very nice history story. Thanks for sharing.

[@cee8mee]

I have relatives on my mom's side of the family from Algoma and Clay Banks. I'm visiting her around Christmas and ill be showing her this episode to see if the name is familiar. We all know the story, however.

[@willardbyrd6529]

Merry Christmas from Kentucky

[@lefty-bw1zp]

Happy Holidays History Guy and all of his followers.

[@johnfun3394]

Thanks United States Coast Guard and the HG.

[@williamdick8736]

Happy holidays History Guy! It's been a particularly hard season for me this year. Your channel keeps my mind busy and I thank you for that.

[@cherylbootsveld1620]

Merry Christmas 🎄 Interesting and touching story.

[@allendyer5359]

Youse do'n nutter story of Yoopers, brining much Christmas cheer er. Tink ya done story of aur pirate sailing out from near port dar. Have you done a un-scarey ghost story bout pipe smoker of Seul Choix Point Lighthouse? Hope your Christmas tree is up & the history cat keeps out of it.

[@jamesbarca7229]

As someone who has spent much time on Lake Michigan, I cringe every time I hear the line from the Gordon Lightfoot song Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald... "Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams, The islands and bays are for sportsmen". If he had ever spent much time on that lake, he would never have written such nonsense. Lake Michigan is unforgiving and will take you in a heartbeat. That's why there are nearly 1,500 shipwrecks on that lake, along with countless smaller craft. I know numerous people who have died on Lake Michigan and have come damn close myself.

[@kimfleury]

I've never interpreted that line as meaning Lake Michigan is perfectly idyllic. The islands and bays are for sportsman, and there are lovely days and nights on the Lake. But it _steams_ as well. Young men's dreams are energetic. I've lived most of my life on Lake Huron, some years on Lake Erie, and although I'm not as familiar with Lakes Michigan or Superior, I have traveled around them and sailed on them as a cook on the freighters. Just never in November.

[@glennschlorf1285]

Kewaunee...... yep

[@BenjySparky]

THG you rock! Merry Christmas. Peace

[@robertjordan7340]

Merry Christmas everyone.

[@chrismusix5669]

Schuenemann was an upstanding schooner man. 🎄

[@tm502010]

Wonderful as always!

[@tinamclaughlin1991]

Merry Christmas Capt. & Family 😇🥰🙏😪

[@stevegallagher687]

Merry Christmas HG

[@zillsburyy1]

history channel should hire you

[@J.A.Smith2397]

He don't do aliens n is better than them lol

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

They aren't interested in actual history anymore. Plus they'd limit what kind of content he could cover more than is already done, so I would bet it would be decreased quality overall, I like things just the way they are ❤

[@kimfleury]

Someone beat me to the aliens line. My late Dad enjoyed history and pretty much kept his TV on the History Channel after his retirement. I enjoyed watching the programs with him and talking about his memories. As he developed dementia, he continued to go to the History Channel because he knew how to find it on the remote. But man! With the dementia, he had no idea that he was watching fiction. He would have been disgusted if that's what they were showing when he still had his wits about him. But by the time it got to that, he was just confused. It's such a shame too, because actual history is so good for dementia patients! My hometown is blessed with a former resident who retired and used his free time to research and narrate a KZbinr series on our local history. It's used in the Memory Care Unit at the nursing homes here. I watched it with my Dad, and his memory sparked to life. He had so many memories of his youth in the area. It took his mind off his suffering and grounded him in reality, even if it was just long ago memories. If he watched any actual history of a national event, he was inclined to remember it from the local perspective, and it was something solid he could hold on to. I do wish that the History Channel would go back to programming actual history, in which case the History Guy would be a good fit _if_ they let him produce the content. My Dad died a few years ago, but there are still dementia patients who could benefit.

[@garthsnidpick4151]

thompson michigan ( upper peninsula ) has a bronze plague devoted to the christmas ship....

[@debbralehrman5957]

Thanks THG 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@stevedietrich8936]

Good morning THG and welcome to class fellow students.

[@davea6314]

I lived in Kenosha Wisconsin and I currently live in a suburb of Chicago. The subject of this history lesson is close to home.

[@markreynolds9570]

Good time to explain the American Chessnut tree extinction.

[@kimfleury]

I think he's covered the Chestnut Blight, but they're not extinct. It's a long story. I've had the website bookmarked for more than 20 years, but I don't know if I'll get the name right. I think it's called the American Chestnut Tree Foundation. At any rate that search should point you in the right direction.

[@kimfleury]

I knew about the Christmas Tree Ship, but didn't know the story of the captain and his brother, and the rest of his family. This story isn't precisely personal to me, but I recognize a connection to my heritage. My great-grandfather came from Germany to Port Huron, Michigan in 1880, by way of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philly was listed as his point of entry on his immigration documents. The German Aid Society, with stations at the various points of entry, was sending immigrant Germans to locations where workers were needed, which explains why so many were sent to Chicago and other points in the Midwest. My great-grandfather chose to come to Port Huron because workers were needed to excavate and construct an underwater train tunnel between Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. However, there were snags that delayed the project, and so all the Germans found other work, usually starting in the lumber mills. They also worked as sailors, either when the mills had no work, or when they decided sailing was easier on the body than working in the lumber mill. My great-grandfather did both, and then settled as a clerk for a merchant marine supply and general store.

[@scottward7813]

Stating the obvious, they don't make people like this anymore!

[@brianoneel514]

Someone read the current issue of Michigan History magazine!😅 Merry Christmas.

[@HM2SGT]

*Eternal Father, strong to save,* *Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,* *Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep* *Its own appointed limits keep,* *O hear us when we cry to thee* *For those in peril on the sea!*

[@kimfleury]

Amen. I hope you pray this frequently for our sailors today.

[@cherylbrooks7005]

❤

[@MarianneKat]

4 out of 5 great lakes prefer Michigan. Michigan is Superior. Ohio is Erie😂😂

[@kimfleury]

😂

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Hey History Guy 🤓and Fellow Classmates, may you never sleep 💤 under Rudolph with Post nasal drip! And may your new year be shiny too! GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS

[@wasyertakeawaythaturmadeofcorn]

Milwaukee, the biggest, little nothing town. How fitting I should be the 83rd comment. I would have preferred 88th.

[@davea6314]

Christmas? Bah humbug! 😜

[@jordanfalkowski6924]

Thats like that rottweiler chasin that squirrel and neighbor lady got her dress all messed up

[@merlinwizard1000]

8th, 22 December 2023

[@nukemman]

You should ask Mommy. There have been way more than 8, 22nd of December.