Defiance was built in 1901 by Matthew McDowell at Tacoma to replace the Dauntless on the Seattle-Tacoma-West Pass run.

[2][3] 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 and Bainbridge Island.

In 1933, Kingston was converted to diesel and outfitted with refrigerated compartments to run in the southeastern Alaska trade.

[4] 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.