''The Christmas Tree Ship'' is the second EP by

I Like Trains I Like Trains (previously styled as iLiKETRAiNS) is an English alternative/post-rock band, formed in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It draws its inspiration from historical failings and a pessimistic world view. I Like Trains has had its music used in ...

. It was released on 24 November 2008. It is an entirely instrumental

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, based on the storm that sank the

Rouse Simmons The ''Rouse Simmons'' was a three-masted schooner famous for having sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago with a cargo of Christmas trees when it foundered off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, killing all on boar ...

. The Rouse Simmons was a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

that for twenty years delivered

Christmas trees A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, until on the night of November 23, 1912 it was lost in a storm on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

, with all hands and a full cargo of Christmas trees.About ''The Christmas Tree Ship'' on I Like Trains' website.
The Christmas Tree Ship
. The five track titles relate to different aspects of the story. * ''The Christmas Tree Ship'' is about the sinking of the

itself. * ''South Shore'', ''Two Brothers'' and ''Three Sisters'' were the names of three other ships that sank the same night. * ''Friday, Everybody Goodbye'' is the opening sentence of a

message in a bottle A message in a bottle (abbrev. MIB) is a form of communication in which a message is sealed in a container (typically a bottle) and released into a conveyance medium (typically a body of water). Messages in bottles have been used to send distres ...

Jacobson-Tews, Lori. Pier Wisconsin.
The Story of the Rouse Simmons (page 4)
". Accessed 12 January 2007. thrown into the sea by the captain of the Rouse Simmons. The album was released as a limited-edition CD and DVD, but the general release was only as an MP3 download. Since then, I Like Trains have made the album a one-track EP for download.

Track listing

# "The Christmas Tree Ship" # "South Shore" # "Two Brothers" # "Three Sisters" # "Friday, Everybody Goodbye"

References

2008 EPs I Like Trains albums Beggars Banquet Records EPs Christmas tree production {{ep-stub