SS Dauntless

Did you ever hear about a steamboat named for courage? The SS Dauntless, a name whispering of bravery, once sailed these very waters. She was a vital part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet in the early 1900s. The SS Dauntless was built in 1899 by Matthew McDowell in Tacoma. She was constructed to replace another vessel, the Defiance I, on the Seattle-Tacoma-East Pass route. She was a sturdy vessel, 93 feet long and weighing in at 91 tons. Imagine her cutting through the waves, propelled by her powerful steam engine. In 1900, Captain McDowell built a new, larger Defiance. He then sold the SS Dauntless to the Moe Brothers, who reassigned her to the Bainbridge Island route. Just two years later, she changed hands again. L.B. Hastings and Captain Mann of Port Townsend purchased her and put her to work on the Port Townsend-Irondale run. Irondale, booming thanks to a steel mill, needed swift transport. The SS Dauntless, still capable of an impressive 11 knots, was perfect for the job. She reliably ferried passengers and goods back and forth. For years, she braved the waters of Puget Sound. But even the dauntless can meet their match. On December 30, 1923, a fierce storm raged through the sound. The SS Dauntless, moored at Appletree Cove, was torn from her anchors. She was driven across the churning waters and thrown onto the beach at Meadow Point. There, on the unforgiving shore, the once-proud steamboat broke apart. The waves claimed her, a final, watery embrace for the vessel named Dauntless.