Short Stuff: Captain Santa | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hi and welcome to the short Stu I should. say Merry Christmas and welcome to the. short stuff everybody because this. episode comes out on December 25th which. as many people know is Christmas day. that's right and it's a rare Christmas. short stuff where we also have to issue. a. warning for kids listening that the. story while beautiful and lovely takes a. very dark turn as yet a another Maritime.

disaster. episode yeah I mean I guess I had second. thoughts about this but reading over it. again I'm like no this is a good. Christmas Story yeah this was so funny. to me I just have to tell everyone when. Josh sent it I thought he was sending it. as a joke of like hey here's a Christmas. thing cuz I had already given him a hard. time about all the maritime disaster. episodes we do MH and here was another. one and you're like do we do a lot of. those I was like are you kidding me I. still couldn't tell yeah no I forgot.

about that orang Madan and mystery of. the Sarah Joe to fur in like I think two. weeks in a row or something yeah but hey. this one is about cap the death of. Captain Santa yeah so just ring some. Jingle Bells for this Maritime disaster. and it'll differentiate it from the. others right yeah this one has a very. cool story around it though uh because. in Chicago around the turn of the last. century they did a very cool thing uh. wherein if you needed a Christmas tree. you could head down to the Chicago River.

and you could go aboard a real sailing. ship loaded with Christmas lights and. Christmas trees like a little temporary. Christmas tree lot to pick out your tree. yeah and if you were down on your luck. at the time uh and you went to a. particular Schooner the Rouse Simmons. you would probably meet the captain he. was nicknamed Captain Santa uh and he. would if he found out that you were down. on your luck he would probably give you. one of the Christmas trees free of.

charge pretty great yeah so um the. reason that this was already a thing um. this is the late 19th century by this. time uh the Germans had been decorating. Christmas trees for a very long time but. it wasn't until Queen Victoria's husband. Prince Albert who is from Germany. introduced it to England and it spread. to America so people wanted Christmas. trees by this time pretty badly and it. was hard to come by in Chicago not a lot. of forests in Chicago so Sailors who who.

uh sailed Schooners or captains who. sailed Schooners which are large masted. ships used for shipping cargo would sail. from um northern Michigan from Wisconsin. with literal boatloads of Christmas. trees and show up at the Clark Street. docks in Chicago string up some lights. on their boat and just say come on. aboard and pick out your tree that's. right it's pretty wonderful tradition uh. Captain Santa was born when uh armman sh.

um obviously German in somewhere. probably around. 1865 and he was uh second in line in the. family business his brother AUST um. would also uh do this along Lake. Michigan um sell trees from the Schooner. um but Captain Santa was not a rich man. uh he only owned um 1/8 share of the. Ralph Simmons uh he was heavily in debt. because he owned a saloon that um put. him about $1,300 in debt about 42,000. today mhm so he wasn't a rich guy uh.

which made you know the fact that he had. some Financial hardships uh even more. heartwarming heartwarming heartwarming. that this guy would still give away. trees if he couldn't afford one yeah so. um with a failed Saloon um he he was. like well I've got to get out there and. be captaining the Ralph Simmons as much. as possible he had a wife named Barbara. he had three daughters two of whom were. twins um which is usually how twins come. and so it's it's important to say he was.

not the only ship that would sail to. Chicago in addition to his brother um. there were plenty of other captains but. he differentiated himself from his. generosity from his jolliness and the. the Chicago papers gave him the nickname. Captain Santa and so uh by this time. this this last run that he would make. and yes that is kind of a cryptic way to. put it uh it was uh November mid. November and the this was was around the.

last time of the year where you could. cross the great lakes in particular he. was crossing Lake Michigan so he was. making one last run with the Ralph. Simmons so loaded with Christmas trees. that Witnesses later said it looked like. a floating forest and it turns out Chuck. that this was the last trip that both. Captain shiman and the Ralph Simmons. would ever. make are we going to be right back after. this yeah I think so all right part two. coming up. [Music].

okay we're back we're somber the. Christmas Joy has now been replaced by. yet another Maritime disaster because. after they set sail on November 22nd. 1912 heavy heavily loaded with 3 to. 5,000 Christmas trees a floating Forest. as you said yeah uh things went bad uh. they knew things could go bad because. alus that older brother that we talked. about he actually already had died uh in. a boat a ship loaded with Christmas.

trees um not too long before I believe. about 14 years earlier November 1898. devastated the family obviously but. armman marched on uh the Schooner was. spotted by um a life- Saving Station at. a Kiwani Wisconsin uh had its flag at. half Mass which means I need help uh. their motorboat was the only vessel that. could uh make it in the storm but it was. on the lake already doing something out. of touch so by the time they got in in.

touch with the station at two rivers and. got their motorboat out uh it was too. late that boat was gone yeah it was only. 20 minutes that had passed but by the. time that motorboat from Two Rivers made. it out there they were like we we. couldn't see it I mean it was dark and. it this was in the afternoon but it was. so dark and the snow was so heavy and. the Mist was so thick that they were. like it's it's not there so they don't. know exactly where it went down they. didn't know where it went down for um a. very long time about half a century.

um but the thing is is despite the fact. that it had vanished no one saw it go. down so uh like in in martime thinking. it was not necessarily lost uh it could. have made it out of sight into a Safe. Harbor and waited that mid November. storm out and that's what Barbara and. her daughters were thinking they were. concerned when the Ralph Simmons did not. show up in Chicago as as um planned like. on its normal uh schedule that's the. word I'm looking for yeah it's a.

Christmas miracle I just pulled that. word out of thin air um but they also. realized like it's possible they were. just Sheltering in a harbor for a little. while let's give it a few days before. we're really worried yeah uh that came. over the next weeks and months uh when. Christmas tree started uh washing up on. the Wisconsin Shoreline MH uh it turns. out that they were their fears were. confirmed the Ralph Simmons was never. seen again uh up to 23 people perished.

um there it seems like uh there were. some Lumberjacks who hitched a ride in. addition to the captain Santa and the. crew MH and they uh you know people. would find things here and there in uh. 1924 this is pretty remarkable they. actually found um Captain Santa's wallet. wrapped in waterproof oil skin yeah. there was no doubting it it had his. business card yeah uh it also had like. clippings of some of the newspaper. accounts on him as Captain s.

it was definitely his wallet and I mean. found in a fishing net is not the way. you want to find your lost husband's. wallet no so the Ross the rth Simmons. was definitely lost but Barbara herself. carried on this uh this family tradition. of delivering Christmas trees uh in. Chicago for several more years as a. matter of fact using Schooners. eventually they moved over to to trains. Which is far more sensible um but they. the the loss of the Ralph Simmons was.

basically this signal like okay the the. um the age of Schooners sailing across. the Great Lakes using cargo and in. particular showing up at the Clark. Street docks with Christmas trees is. probably over yeah but the cool thing. about his family continuing even when. they brought him in by train they would. take them to a dock Schooner and sell. them from that and even after that they. sold trees from a lot so they were just. a legit Tree Business family by that.

point um but like you said that kind of. was the beginning of the end for the. whole practice um there are some. interesting little uh sort of ghost. stories and rumors I guess you might. call them that like uh you can still. smell Evergreen in that area uh and that. that the trees may have uh may be still. be in good shape like um preserved at. the bottom of Lake Michigan did you see. the the photo of it yeah that was. apparently the real deal like that some.

of their they're so well preserved in. the silt that some of them still have. their needles attached that's incredible. I don't I can't get my needles to last. through New Year's yeah so a diver in. Lake Michigan I think Lake Michigan is. now the Vodka Clear Lake thanks to the. zebra zebra muscle Invasion yeah but at. the time in 1971 when it was discovered. a diver felted out by hand and somehow. figured out that this was the Ralph. Simmons that he had found in like 17 2. ft of water and then over time I think.

in 2006 some underwater archaeologists. did the first survey and there's a. picture I think Atlas obscura has a. really great article on this and um they. there's a overhead shot of the Rouse. Simmons sitting upright on the bottom of. Lake Michigan and you can see some of. the Christmas tree Timbers still. scattered around it yeah amazing and I. believe uh where the Evergreen scent is. present is near uh Barbara's grave site. right at aasia Park Cemetery in Chicago.

um one thing that struck me is very sad. I mean obviously the uh 23 Souls aboard. including Captain Santa is very tragic. but I also feel bad about 5,000 live. trees that just went to waste yeah that. is very sad L Tre about that wow if this. wasn't a bummer Christmas episode it. sure is now it's a but but it might be. it might not be a scary ghost story but. is a tale of the glory of Christmases. long long ago if you ask me true and so. to kind of tie the whole thing up in a.

nice Christmas bow Captain Santa was so. Beloved the Chicago papers went nuts. when the Ralph Simmons was lost there. was a legend which is apparently true of. a um poor little girl who was waiting at. the Clark Street docks for Captain. Santana himself to get her Christmas. tree and was left waiting forever. essentially um but he's still so beloved. around this area that every year in. early December the US Coast Guard Cutter. Mina commemorates the Ralph Simmons.

journey across Lake Michigan and brings. a load of Christmas trees to uh. Chicago's disadvantaged kids that's. great it's a happy ending it is a happy. ending you nailed it it's a Christmas. ending yeah has a dark center it's. called it's called a happy Christmas. sandwich yeah yeah there you go yeah uh. I want to give a big shout out and. thanks to Glenn V Longacre who wrote a. great 2006 article in the National. Archives now defunct PR blog magazine in.

addition to Atlas obscure too that's. right and is this coming out uh when. would this be like a couple of days. before New Year's no this comes out on. Christmas it is Christmas right now. chuck oh well Merry Christmas Merry. Christmas Chuck Merry Christmas to. everybody who's listening uh and uh. happy holidays short stuff is. out stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts ihart radio visit the iHeart.

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