The steamboat ''Defiance'' operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. In later years this vessel was called ''Kingston''.

Career

''Defiance'' was built in 1901 by Matthew McDowell at

Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

to replace the ''Dauntless'' on the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

-West Pass run. (McDowell sold ''Dauntless'' to the Moe Brothers to run on their Bainbridge Island route.). ''Defiance'' was 93' long. ''Defiance'' originally ran in the Seattle-Tacoma-West Pass route. The steamer ''Glide'' also served this route as did later the ''

Virginia V Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

''. In about 1913, ''Defiance'' was sold to the Kingston Transportation Company, which renamed her ''Kingston'' and put her on a route between

Ballard, Washington Ballard is a List of neighborhoods in Seattle, neighborhood in northwestern Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Formerly an independent city, the Government and politics of Seattle, City of Seattle's official boundaries defi ...

and Kingson.Newell and Williamson, ''Pacific Steamboats'', at 120.Kline and Bayless, ''Ferryboats – A Legend on Puget Sound'', at 110, 166067, and 169. By about 1923, ''Kingston'' (ex-''Defiance'') had come under the ownership of the Whidby Island Transportation Company, run by Captain F.G. Reeve and associates, and doing business as the Washington Route. The Washington Route operated ''Kingston'' and another steamer, ''F.G. Reeve'', from Seattle to Chico, Silverdale and other points on the

Kitsap Peninsula The Kitsap Peninsula () lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of Kits ...

and

Bainbridge Island Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 24,825 at the 2020 census, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. The island is se ...

. Captain Reeve also placed ''Kingston'' and another steamer, ''Atalanta'', on the Seattle- Coupeville route, this was in the fall of 1923. In 1932, Kingston was sold by the Washington Route to Captain Charles West and others. In 1933, ''Kingston'' was converted to diesel and outfitted with refrigerated compartments to run in the southeastern Alaska trade.Newell, ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine Historyt'', at 425. On May 20, 1933, on her first voyage north, ''Kingston'' (ex-''Defiance'') was wrecked in the Whitestone Narrows near Sitka and became a total loss.

Notes

References

* Kline, M.S., and Bayless, G.A., ''Ferryboats – A Legend on Puget Sound'', Bayless Books, Seattle WA 1983 * Newell, Gordon R., and Williamson, Joe, ''Pacific Steamboats'', Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1958 * Newell, Gordon R., ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', Binford and Mort, Portland, Oregon (2nd Ed. 1960). * Newell, Gordon R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966

External links

Photograph of steamboat ''Defiance'' leaving Des Moines, WashingtonPhotograph of steamboat ''Defiance'', a typical example of a Mosquito Fleet craft
Steamboats of Washington (state) Propeller-driven steamboats of Washington (state) History of Washington (state) Ships built in Tacoma, Washington {{Merchantship-stub

Career

See also

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References

External links