When the Kewaunee Life Saving Station spotted the "Rouse Simmons" on 23 November 1912 it was low in the water with tattered sails, flying its flag at half mast to signal that it was in distress. Logs from the station show that a surfman spotted the "Simmons" at 2:50pm and alerted station keeper Nelson Craite. Craite found that the station's gas tugboat had left earlier in the day and, at 3:10pm, Craite telephoned the nearest other Station. George E. Sogge of Two Rivers, located just south of Kewaunee, sent out the power boat "Tuscarora" on a rescue mission, but the "Simmons" was not seen again.