The Michigan Maritime Museum Presents Author Fred Neuschel

"Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships"

On Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. the Michigan Maritime Museum will host author Fred Neuschel for a program open to all members of the museum and the public, featuring the recently released book, published by the University of Michigan Press, "Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships".

Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships goes behind one of the most popular stories of the Great Lakes-the loss of the schooner Rouse Simmons on Lake Michigan in 1912- to reveal the real lives of the sailors on the inland seas.

The book begins and ends with the fatal last voyage of the Rouse Simmons which was lost while carrying a cargo of Christmas trees to Chicago. Often called the "Christmas Tree Ship", the Rouse Simmons was, instead the last in a long line of vessels that carried this unexpected cargo. For four decades sailors had been risking there lives to bring evergreens to Midwestern cities when the conditions on the lakes were at there most treacherous. Lives and Legends tell the larger story of how these sailors lived and worked together through the era when the age of sail was coming to a close. Drudgery, exploitation and poverty make their appearance, but there is also humor, adventure, bravery, ambition and achievement; and, if the truth be told, there are unconscionable acts of risk-taking and foolish acts of pride.

Fred Neuschel has lived his entire life within fifty miles of the Great Lakes. Currently, he and his wife live in Crystal Lake, IL. By day he is a counselor in an addiction treatment program. By night he is a historian whose interest lies in the broad scope of American history and focuses especially on happening in the upper midwestern United States. He is a member of the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven and vice president of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History and Chair person of the associations research and publication committee. As a recreational sailor his attention has been captured by the age of sail on the Great Lakes.

The Michigan Maritime Museum offers similar programs once a month through the off season. It is located at 260 Dyckman ave, at the bridge, in South Haven .