The F/V Rio Grande is a retired seiner used by five generations of the Murphy family. Kevin Murphy was among the fourth generation to gain his sea legs on the boat. The F/V Rio Grande was originally built in 1931 by Barbee Marine Yards in Seattle for the Suryan family to fish out of False Pass, Alaska in the Aleutians. Family patriarch Frank H. Murphy emigrated from Nova Scotia in 1901 and quickly became involved with fishing and mining before acquiring the F/V Rio Grande to tend fish traps near Meyers Chuck, Alaska. Following statehood in 1959 and the abolishment of fish traps, the boat was rigged up for seining. In the 1970s, Frank's son Francis C. "Spike," grandson Francis C. Jr. "Sonner," and a few others helped start the black cod fishery. Outside of fishing, the F/V Rio Grande was well-known for hauling freight, towing, log salvage, search and rescue operations, and even retrieving wrecked air craft. The boat was beached at Murphy's Landing near Ward Cove on September 10, 2014.