On December 4th, a very special ship docked at Navy Pier in Chicago. An eager crowd was on hand to welcome the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw on its annual stop in Chicago. For the past 15 years, the Mackinaw has pulled the same duty as the three-mast schooner Rouse Simmons pulled for many years in the 1880s until 1912.

The Mackinaw's journey to Chicago began a couple of weeks earlier when it tied up at its home port at Cheboygan, Michigan. This docking was something the crew on the Mackinaw looks forward to each year because of the cargo that was about to be loaded, 1,200 Christmas tr...