AH-WR-0099

Pretoria

Schooner-Barge · United States · Lost 1905 · Apostle Islands & Western Lake Superior

One of the largest wooden ships ever built on the Great Lakes, lost with five of her crew in the same 1905 gale that sank the Sevona.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Documented Likeness. Drawn from surviving builder's plans or clear photographs of this vessel. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Pretoria was launched in 1900 at West Bay City, Michigan, for James Davidson, and at 338 feet was among the largest wooden vessels ever built on the Great Lakes. On September 1, 1905, she loaded iron ore at Superior, Wisconsin, and was taken in tow by the steamer Venezuela, the same day the freighter Sevona loaded at the same pier. A gale the next day snapped her tow line and disabled her steering; her anchors failed to hold near Outer Island and the hull broke apart. Five of her ten crew drowned; the Outer Island lighthouse keeper rescued the other five from the surf.