By James Heinz
At Christmas time for many years the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society has remembered the mariners lost on the Great Lakes and particularly the men lost on the legendary Christmas Tree Ship, the schooner ROUSE SIMMONS. The SIMMONS sank in 1912 while delivering Christmas trees to the poor people of Chicago.
And so it was on December 4, 2024, when once again the Milwaukee Yacht Club was the site of the annual WMHS Christmas Tree Ship Holiday Dinner. This is an appropriate site for a commemoration of the ROUSE SIMMONS, since an anchor recovered from that wreck sits in front of the Yacht Club.
Kent Bellrichard and Ashley Lemke
An even more appropriate guest was the man who discovered the wreck of the ROUSE SIMMONS and recovered the anchor, the legendary shipwreck hunter Kent Bellrichard, who was brought to the event by WMHS President Todd Gordon.
Kent got to listen to a lecture on the SIMMONS by the night’s speaker, Wisconsin state underwater archeologist Tamara Thomsen, herself a legendary shipwreck hunter as well. Tamara’s lecture reconstructed the last voyage of the ship and was accompanied by photos of the wreck that Kent said were much clearer than what he remembered when he found the wreck in 1971.
Photo at top of page: speaker Tamara Thomsen, Ashley Lemke, Bill Kappleman, Kent Bellrichard
Kent and Tamara sat at the head table with WMHS Board of Directors and Explorers Club member Dr. Ashley Lemke, who is also an underwater explorer, not of historical shipwrecks, but of prehistoric Native American hunting structures on the bottom of Lake Huron.
Other notables in attendance were current and former WMHS Presidents Todd Gordon and Carl Eisenberg, as well as Milwaukee Public Library Director Joan Johnson.
The lecture was great, and a good time was had by all.
Photos by James Heinz
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James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172
