She cleared San Francisco with 1,786 sacks of flour, 87 sacks of barley, 57 sacks of oats, 498 sacks of potatoes, paint, guns, kegs of nails, a piano, 6 dozen shovels, and other merchandise valued at $28,192.75. She arrived back in San Francisco on April 15, 1866 with 617 tons of freight, a record for the time for a single ship from Hawaii. The ship's two trips were unprofitable, losing between $7,000 and $8,000. Shortly after her return to San Francisco, the California Steam Navigation Company withdrew he from her Hawaii route, ending scheduled steamship service to the islands. With the break in her scheduled sailings, she underwent a brief visit to the shipyard for repairs. After several months of idleness, the ship was reassigned to the San Francisco - Portland route and made her first trip on February 12, 1867, arriving in Portland on February 16. She made several additional roundtrips between San Francisco and Portland in 1867, but with competition from the Ben Holladay's California, Oregon & Mexico Steamship Company and the newly launched Anchor Line, the route had too many ships on it and a full scale fare war broke out. Fares dropped from $45 for a cabin and $25 for steerage to $10 and $3 respectively between 1866 and 1867. Unable to make money on its ocean-going shipping business, the California Steam Navigation Company sold its entire fleet of seagoing vessels, including "Ajax", to the California, Oregon & Mexico Steamship company in mid-1867. Ajax continued her trips to Portland in 1868,1869, and early 1870 with occasional trips to Victoria and Mazatlan. In March 1869 the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company was reincorporated under the laws of California as the North Pacific Transportation Company. On May 10, 1870 "Ajax" sailed again for Honolulu, this time to meet the steamer "City of Melbourne" sailing from Australia and New Zealand. Passengers booked through tickets going in both directions. She sailed with $36,202 of freight. This was the first of four roundtrips to Hawaii in 1870. The company suspended this transpacific service during the stormy winter months, reassigning the ship to the San Francisco - Portland route. She resumed her trips to Honolulu on March 18, 1871, carrying 33 passengers, more than half of whom were transferring there to a steamer that would take them to Australia or New Zealand.