Chicago resident, Captain David Truitt, has been serving with the U.S. Coast Guard for 60 years. His entire life, he says, he worked on a rescue boat - the boat he captained. But it wasn't until the holiday season more than two decades ago that he started a tradition now known as Chicago's Christmas Ship.
While doing good deeds for Chicago residents, Truitt and his fellow “Coasties” noticed that some homes were having Christmas parties. Those home had Christmas trees. However, in poorer neighborhoods, there were no parties, and there were no Christmas trees.
“Now that seems obvious to some people,” Truitt explained. “But it wasn't obvious to us. We said 'being us, we can fix that because we can fix anything!'"
That’s when the Great Lake Christmas Ship was born.
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Well, perhaps, reborn.
During the early 20th century, a ship known as the Rouse Simmons was the original Christmas Tree Ship. It carried pine trees across Lake Michigan to Chicago from the late 1800s into the early part of the 1900s. Tragedy struck in November 1912, when the ship encountered severe weather. The vessel sank into Lake Michigan killing its captain and all crew members on board.
Then, 23 years ago, the Christmas Ship Committee worked with Captain Truitt and the U.S. Coast Guard to revive the tradition. Since that time, over 25,000 Christmas trees have made the trek across Lake Michigan from Cheboygan, Michigan, down to Chicago.
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Onboard the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw ship, George Degener, a spokesperson for the Ninth Coast Guard District, welcomed NBC 5, to see the 1,200 fresh Christmas trees carried in from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Just walking up to the ship, the scent of fresh pine brought the deep woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Chicago’s lakefront. They are donated from a tree farm and taken to Cheboygan where they are loaded onto the ship and secured to take a multi-day journey south on Lake Michigan.
“This ship is the only kind in the Coast Guard fleet that does what it does,” Degener explained. “The Great Lakes Icebreaker that keeps commerce moving, keeps people safe and brings Christmas cheer to the city of Chicago.”
The massive ship not only cracks through the frozen Great Lakes during frigid winter months, but it also performed an incredibly important job before docking at Navy Pier.
“The Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw is primarily an icebreaker but also a buoy tender,” says Degener.
That's because at this time of year, the lakes are starting to freeze as rough weather moves in.
The 55-member crew of the Mackinaw moved from buoy to buoy to take the navigational aids that guide and keep mariners safe out of the water. The crew then replaces those with winter markers that are more resilient to ice and cold. It is a big job for a big ship as these buoys and their anchors weigh tens of thousands of pounds each.
But Degener say that several members of the U.S. Coast Guard eagerly want to be on this mission, so they can share the moments spreading joy once arriving in Chicago.
“This was my very first ship back in 2005,” Commanding Officer Jeannette Greene said. “I was a young Coastie trying to figure out my job.”
Now the commanding officer of the Mackinaw, she joins a group of female Coasties accounting for 50% of the officer corps on the ship.
“To be back here now as the commanding officer is extremely special to me,” she said. “To be here in Chicago [with you guys] doing this really amazing event…it’s just an honor.”
The crew will unload the trees on Saturday morning during a ceremony at Navy Pier. The trees will be put onto trucks, which will take them to residents across the city.
“What really gets to me is I see a kid this big,” Captain Truitt said as he used his hand to show the height of a small child. He then widened his reach and continued, “with a tree that’s THIS BIG. And he's holding the tree. And he's so happy. And then behind him is a mother with a big grin and a dad with a big grin. And they're holding each other, together. And I realized this is a good thing to do.”
The program for Saturday, December 3, 2022 is listed here on the Christmas Ship website.
