Outer Island lighthouse keeper John Irvine recorded the Pretoria's demise in his logbook on Sept. 2, 1905:

Cleaning, trimming lamps and lens. Tending signal. A terrible gale blowing from the NE. The biggest sea I have seen since I have been at the station, which is eight years. About 2:30 p.m. sighted a schooner about 2 miles NE of station. About 4 p.m. seen small boat leaving schooner. I the keeper hurried down with a white flag in my hand and a piece of rope to render what assistance I could. I helped to pull five men ashore, pretty well exhausted. Five were drowned. The crew consisted of Captain Charles Smart & nine crew. The Capt., mate and three seaman were saved. Four seaman and a cook, who was colored, drowned.

Irvine's modest account trivializes his involvement in the rescue. The Duluth News Tribune reported on Sept. 5, 1905, "Captain Irvine, who, though sixty years old, is still hale and strong, started to their rescue. By almost superhuman effort, while his life was endangered every minute, he brought the five who still clung to the lifeboat safely to shore."

Meanwhile, the Pretoria foundered and settled on the bottom in 52 feet of water, its long masts sticking out of the water. The weather calmed the next day, and Keeper Irvine recorded in his journal on Sept. 4, "I expect she [Pretoria] will be a total wreck as her decks is all coming ashore." The five drowned crew members washed up on Outer Island and were recovered by island fisherman Isaac Alskog on Sept. 5. The bodies were returned to Bayfield, Wisconsin, aboard the tug Fashion.

The Pretoria's certificate of enrollment was surrendered on Jan. 12, 1906. It was listed as a loss due to foundering. The vessel's worth was estimated at $60,000 and its cargo's worth at $33,000.

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