A Tale of Two Ships...

Much has been written in this blog, and in the author's books of USS APc-48, and its service in the South Pacific during WWII, but little can be found of its postwar civilian career as a fishing vessel other than its transfer of ownership from one master to the next...Recently a connection was noticed between this old warrior and a sister ship...Just like those odd meetings sometimes told of those who have served their country in war, and somehow meet in later years as civilians, APc-48, in its peacetime identity as MV Allen Cody, is now known to have been docked together for a number of years with the MV Dennis Gayle, formerly serving the US Navy as USS APc-5...Built on opposite ends of the nation in Rhode Island and California, both saw honorable service in the South Pacific until the war's end, then transferred to MARAD for sale as demilled commercial vessels...In 2007 both ships were acquired by Stanwood Murphy with the intention of using one as a historic maritime exhibit, and the other as a private yacht...

Alas, good intentions are sometimes ensnared by circumstances...As has been told in the "APc-48" series of books, Allen Cody sank at its moorings in 2008, and was subsequently raised and salvaged, its current fate unknown...It has now been learned that the former APc-5, Dennis Gayle, also sank at the same dock as reported by the North Coast Journal, a periodical of Humboldt County, California...A small amount of investigation by "Gray Gang" member, Earl the Pearl, revealed the connection between the two, and the fact that both ships had been acquired by Stanwood Murphy...NavSource recorded that after purchase by Stanwood Murphy, Jr., the Dennis Gayle was then bought by Matthew Maurice of San Diego in 2009, then resold to Woody Murphy (believed by this writer to be either the same person, or of the same family as Stanwood Murphy)...The ship went to the bottom of Humboldt Bay on 2/28/2016 at the same dock where Allen Cody (APc-48) sank and was subsequently salvaged eight years earlier...The North Coast Journal article does reveal that the Allen Cody was dragged from the bay onto dry land where it was reported as resting at the time of that article...Efforts to speak with someone in the Murphy family through addresses found online have been fruitless...

A detailed search of the available War Diaries of APc-48 in NARA reveal no mention of steaming in convoy nor being moored with APc-5 during the war...But since both ships earned the same campaign ribbons (American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and WWII Victory Medal), it is still likely they occupied the same waters at one time or another...It is certain that both ships made their retirement home at the same dock...The YouTube video below has further details...

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