Herman Scheunemann wasn’t the only captain carrying Christmas trees across Lake Michigan to Chicago at the turn of the last century, but he was the most beloved. Which makes this episode even sadder.
In this special Christmas episode, the guys tell the heartwarming but ultimately tragic true story of Captain Santa, a generous German-American ship captain who earned his nickname by giving away free Christmas trees to poor Chicagoans from his schooner in the early 1900s. When Captain Santa and his ship, the Rouse Simmons, laden with thousands of trees, set sail across Lake Michigan in November 1912 for what should have been a routine final run of the season, a sudden storm claimed the vessel and all aboard, making this a surprisingly dark maritime disaster wrapped in holiday sentiment. Though the ship was lost for decades, the legacy of Captain Santa lived on through his family's continued tree business and an annual Coast Guard tradition that still honors his generosity by delivering trees to Chicago's disadvantaged children.
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