The schooner Rouse Simmons was built in 1868 in Milwaukee at the shipyard of Allen, McClelland & Co. Being designed by Louis Pahlow, she had a good pedigree. At 127 feet overall length, 27 feet 6 inches beam, and 8 feet 1 inch depth of hold, she was large, but not un-commonly so for her class. She also had two centerboards rather than one as was more commonly the case. Her carrying capacity was 220 gross tons according to the original news reports, but was later reported as 205 gross tons - capable of carrying a cargo of 350,000 board feet of lumber. Seeing the picture of her to the left, one can appreciate the words that were used to describe her when the Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper announced her launching:
"The model of the Simmons combines speed with large carrying capacity, and in this respect must be considered faultless. Her entrance, though seemingly full, is neverthe-less quite sharp, and her run is really beautiful." Milwaukee Sentinel, August 15. 1868
Indeed, it would not be too much to say the the Rouse Simmons is representative of a whole generation of lumber carriers on Lake Michigan during the era when the lumbering industry reached its peak in the forested region around the lake. As such, she was not unique. In fact, at the same time that she was being built, the Allen, McClelland shipyard was building a duplicate schooner named the Charles H. Hackley. If anything, it was the commonness of her design that helped her become such an endeared symbol of Great Lakes sailing vessels. A sighting of the Simmons in her later years could not help but evoke memories of the glory days of sail on the lakes for those who lived on the shores of the lakes. A father seeing the old schooner, decrepit tough she may have been, sitting in the Chicago River in the years just prior to her loss, might well have pointed her out to his children and wistfully told them stories about how there used to be hundreds of ships like her plying the lake.
A common variation on the lakes was the removal of the main mast to open up cargo space. The resulting sailplan was called the "Grand Haven Rig," seen here on the schr. Josephine Dresden.
Perhaps the most often repeated mistake about the Rouse Simmons is that she was owned by Captain Schuenemann. While Herman Schuenemann owned a small interest in the vessel, her principal owner at the time of her loss was a resident of Beaver Island, Michigan, Mannes J. Bonner. Some years before, he saved her from the boneyard by having her rebuilt after a near fatal accident, and put her into the service of the Beaver Island Lumber Company. Thus, in the final years of her career, she faintly mirrored the work of her prime when she was part of the lumber fleet which brought wealth to lumber baron Charles Hackley and contributed to the economic boon of Muskegon, Michigan, where the lumber was milled, and Chicago, where it was sold. When Captains Herman Schuenemann and Charles Nelson used the Simmons for their Christmas tree voyages, they leased her from M. J. Bonner.
The Most Famous Tree Ship the Schooner Rouse Simmons
