Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Milwaukee Sentinel December 6, 1912 BITS OF WRECKAGE TELL VESSEL'S FATE Hope for Safety of Missing Schooner, ROUSE SIMMONS, Is Practically Abandoned. CAPTAIN'S WIFE ON BOARD Ill Fated Ship Carried Good Cheer Cargo of 27,000 Christmas Trees. PHANTOM BELLS ARE HEARD No Survivor Has Thus Far Appeared to Give Detail of Fatal Lake Disaster. Hope for the safety of the missing schooner, ROUSE SIMMONS, has practically been abandoned. On Thursday developments seem to confirm the general belief that the boat was wrecked and that Capt. Herman Schuleman (sic), his wife (*1), Capt. Christian Nelson (*2), a visitor, and the crew of fourteen men went down to death somewhere along the west shore of Lake Michigan. The boat carried a good cheer cargo of 27,000 (*3) Christmas trees, and bits of evergreen together with other wreckage was picked up on Thursday off Two Rivers, Wis., and Pentwater, Mich. Capt. William Baxter of the KEARSAGE, who is now in Milwaukee, reports having heard some vessel sounding its fog bell just before sighting the Milwaukee light, and many lake sailors believe the sounds heard by Capt. Baxter were what is known to seagoing craft as "phantom bells" - bells which are supposed to bring out the story of disaster at sea. The revenue cutter TUSCARORA left Milwaukee on Wednesday to search for the missing vessel, and is still ranging along the west shore of the lake without success. LIFE SAVERS SEARCH. The crew of the Two Rivers lifesaving station is patrolling the coast to locate wreckage for remains of the crew. It is known that some vessel has met its fate, and it is the intention to establish the identity of the vessel. The vicinity of Twin Rover (sic) point, where the fishermen found the wreckage and trees has long been considered one of the most dangerous portions of the lake, having earned through its many wrecks and wild waters the name of "the graveyard of the lake." Capt. Schuleman (sic) left Manistique (*4), Mich., on Nov. 21, bound for Chicago. He had sailed the waters of Lake Michigan since a boy and had carried many a boat to safety through the heavy gales. The usual crew of the boat is six or seven men, but owing to the manner in which the boat was loaded and would need to be unpacked, the crew was increased to fourteen (*5). Mrs. Shuleman (sic) accompanied her hus- band (*1), that they might be together on Christmas day, as it was the captain's intention to lay up in Chicago for the winter (*6). Encounters Heavy Winds. Almost from the moment that the boat left the Michigan port it began to encounter heavy winds. A week later (*7) a three masted schooner was sighted off Pentwater, Mich. Lifesaving crews all along the lake were notified and a search made for the boat. Nothing was found and it was supposed that the captain of the distressed schooner had been able to make port. Several days later Bayliss Harbor, Wis., reported that the vessel had not been sighted there, though it was then two weeks overdue at Chicago. The ROUSE SIMMONS was a three masted schooner and slid off the ways in 1868, having a capacity of 16,000 bushels of grain. It was then one of the largest boats on the great lakes (*8) and was the pride of the builder. Later, as larger and faster boats were built, the ROUSE SIMMONS was used for the transportation of iron and copper ores, lumber, piling, and rough stock of all descriptions. In its career it changed hands many times, the present owner being M. J. Bonner, St. James, Mich. Two Milwaukee men have owned the schooner, John Faville and F. S. Maxon. It was a well built boat, having a gross tonnage of 206 tons. It was 123 feet long and 23 feet beam. (*9) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES: (1) Barbara Schuenemann was not aboard. (2) Capt. CHARLES Nelson, not Christian - was 1/8 owner. (3) Overstated quantity. (4) Left from Thompson, Mich. (5) Additional men aboard were woodcutters going to Chicago. (6) The Schuenemann family lived in Chicago and had done so for a number of years. (7) On the 23rd a 3-masted schooner in distress was sighted by the Kewaunee lifesaving station. Have found no evidence that ROUSE SIMMONS was sighted off Pentwater, MI., at any time. (8) Of moderate size when built. (9) Owned by Hackley & Hume, of Muskegon, from 1873 - 1896 and used to carry lumber from their mills. Doubtful that she ever ventured into Lake Superior for iron or copper ore.