_{The all-wood ferry Defiance, long part of the South Sound fleet is probably more remembered for her stint on the Port Townsend-Keystone run from 1952-1970. Author’s collection.}

BUILT: 1927 by the Skansie Brothers Shipyard in Gig Harbor, WA.

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 226366 CALL SIGN: WE8648 

L/B/D: 165 x 50 x 13 GROSS/NET TONS:  444/295 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 300/32 

PROPULSION:  2 Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines

NAME TRANSLATION: Named for Point Defiance which was named by Cmdr. Charles Wilkes, who stated “This narrow pass was intended by nature for the defense of Puget Sound.”

FINAL DISPOSITION: Converted to a dogfish processor, the ferry was listed as being “out of service” in 2006 in Juneau, Alaska; likely scrapped at that time.

HISTORY

Washington State Ferries inherited the route from Port Townsend to tricky Keystone Harbor when Olympic Ferries Inc, who’d been operating the route since 1947, went out of business and ended service in the fall of 1973. The Governor stepped in and ordered WSF to take up the route, and in June 1974 service began with the ferry Olympic.

Olympic Ferries had been operating the ferry San Diego on the route for the previous few years, having purchased the vessel from the defunct San Diego-Coronado Ferry Company which ceased operations in 1969 with the opening of the Coronado Bridge.  Prior to the San Diego taking the over the run, Olympic had been operating their only other ferry—the all-wood Defiance, near sister to the Skansonia.

Built in 1927 by the Skansie Brothers Shipyard in Gig Harbor, Washington, the diesel ferry had first operated from Point Defiance (which is where she got her name) to Gig Harbor on the Kitsap Peninsula.  Operated by the Washington Navigation Company, which also owned the Skansonia, City of Tacoma, Wollochet and a number of smaller vessels, the ferry worked the southern arm of Puget Sound under charter for Pierce County until declaring bankruptcy in 1935.  By 1938, the county had purchased a few ferries and given the charter to another company; the opening of Tacoma Narrows Bridge finished off Washington Navigation.

The ferries were idled until the bridge collapsed, but by that time the Washington Navigation Company was a memory.  The ferries City of Tacoma, Defiance and Skansonia were sold to the State of Washington.  The Point Defiance-Tahlequah run had been sold to Black Ball by this time.  The State at first contracted out with the Washington Navigation Company to operate the run from Gig Harbor to Tacoma.  This lasted 18 months and then Black Ball took over the charter.

The Port Townsend-Keystone run, which had been abandoned by Black Ball in 1943, was sold to Olympic Ferries Inc in 1947. Service started at the rebuilt dock, Olympic Ferries Inc. using the 18 car Fox Island, moving to the new terminal in the man-made harbor at Keystone when it was finished in 1948.

Looking to improve service, Olympic Ferries purchased the Defiance in 1952. The Fox Island was likely held in reserve and then sold to the Gulf Island Ferry Company in British Columbia in 1955.   From then on, in the summer months the Defiance made the crossing from Keystone to Port Townsend, running profitably for many years.  In the mid 1950’s she also made freight trips into Seattle, supplementing the service of the Iroquois.

By 1970 Olympic Ferries Inc was looking to replace the Defiance with a vessel that wasn’t going to be as costly to maintain.  The San Diego seemed to be the perfect choice so they purchased the ferry and brought her up from San Diego and sold the Defiance.

The Defiance did not end her career there.  She was converted into a self-propelled dogfish processor and could be seen roaming around the Sound for several years.  She did eventually move to Alaska and was last homeported in Juneau.  The Coast Guard has a record of her, but lists her as “out of service” as of 2006.