You can find the Pretoria about a mile off the northeast shore of Outer Island, 30 miles from Bayfield, Wisconsin. It rests in 55 feet of water ( LORAN : 32288.0, 46141.1; GPS : N 47° 05.36', W 90° 23.66'). The Pretoria is number five on our map of the Apostle Islands . 

Despite its remote location, the wreck is an attractive sport diving site due to its moderate depth, generally good visibility, and large remaining hull . Water temperature in the summer ranges from 40 to 55°F.

A number of the Pretoria's parts have been salvaged over the years. In May 1906, Capt. John Pasque's crew recovered a 1,200-pound steam pump and one of the masts. Later the iron ore was taken from the hold , and the hull was broken apart. In 1948, Coast Guardsmen fishing in shallow water near the lighthouse found the bell and pulled it from the water. You can ring the bell at the Great Lakes Historical Society Museum in Vermilion, Ohio. More recently, divers located and recovered the Pretoria's donkey boiler and anchors, which weigh 3,500 pounds each. The anchors were donated to the historical museum on Madeline Island. A Minnesota sport diver reportedly took the Pretoria's steering wheel in the 1970s. The anchor chain has been salvaged and draped around Bayfield as ornamental fencing.

The wreck consists of the main hull and debris that is scattered in a quarter- to half-mile area. The Pretoria went down still headed into the blow that sank it, so its bow lies to the northeast. The bottom, consisting of the keelson assembly and bilge , measures 315 feet in overall length. Unlike a traditional Great Lakes schooner - and many schooner-barges - the Pretoria did not have a centerboard . In most ways its architecture resembles that of a bulk carrier steamer , rather than a schooner .

continued