USS YP-278 - Early Years

Early Years

The fishing trawler was built in 1937 for Mr. Frederic Gonsalves, Jr., by the Campbell Machine Company of San Diego, California, and christened the Fishing Vessel FV Liberty. Although during World War II its crew was told it had “once belonged to Seymour and Alice DuPont, of the Wilmington, Delaware, chemical company, who had named her the Alcie in the latter's honor and utilized her as a pleasure yacht,” there is currently no evidence that this was actually the case, as it is known to the U. S. Navy that the ship was originally used as a tuna fishing vessel by Mr. Gonsalves. (Whether it was common during the war for sailors to be given false and/or inflated information about their craft to boost their morale and sense of self-importance is unknown. Another example of such a rumor might be the ship's alleged victimization in the Pearl Harbor attack, for which only hearsay evidence is obtainable. See below.) Inquiries turned up no connection between Gonsalves and the DuPont family or its chemical company.