Richard Murphy (sea captain)

Because Murphy performed well during emergencies at sea[10] and, in part, as a result of his Nova Scotia heritage, his role within the fisheries would not be relegated to that of a dory man or crew member. According to one source of the time:

"The Nova Scotian is numbered among the best class of our fishermen. Bred to the business from early youth, discontented with the inferior craft and methods of his native land, ambitious for greater advantages than are afforded him at home, he prosecutes his calling with a zeal that assures success. If his habits are good and he makes proper use of his opportunities, there is nothing to prevent his rising to the part ownership and command of the vessel in which he sails, and many of the smartest skippers of the fleet are of Nova Scotia birth."[11]

By the early 1870s, Murphy had acquired sufficient experience as a mariner and pilot, that fishing company owners began to place their vessels under his command. These vessels were typically two-masted schooners, informally referred to as "bankers," which generally ranged from 50 to 90 feet in length. Most voyages were to Georges Bank, a broad area of treacherous shoals, rich in marine life, located about 150 miles east of Gloucester. However, Gloucester fishing schooners sometimes traveled as far as the Grand Banks, off Newfoundland, and regularly visited a series of fishing grounds stretching between Cape Cod and waters south of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The fishing season would typically begin in earnest in February and would continue until the onset of severe winter cold. Each vessel would take a crew of between eight and twelve men. Each trip, on average, would consume two to three weeks.”[12]

In 1870, Murphy served as skipper of the 49-ton Gloucester-based schooner Oriental, built in 1846.[13] In 1874, Murphy was listed as master of the Essex-built Laughing Water, which weighed 49 tons and was built in 1858.[14] In August 1883, under the command of a subsequent captain, this vessel was severely damaged in a hurricane. According to the New York Times, following this storm, "[t]he schooner Laughing Water succeeded in bringing her hull into port, but that was about all that was left of her."[15] In April 1893, the Laughing Water rescued the surviving crewmembers of the Gloucester schooner Genesta, which capsized off Barnegat, New Jersey.[16] In 1895, the Laughing Water sank without loss of life after it was run down by another vessel.

As captain of the banker David J. Adams, in 1877, Murphy was credited with one of the largest hauls of haddock ever brought into the port of Gloucester, caught over the course of a 10-day trip.[17] In December, 1880, while still in command of the David J. Adams, Murphy came to the aid of a vessel that had been battered by the North Atlantic.

"Boston, [December] 21 - Captain Richard Murphy of the Schooner [David J.] Adams reported that sixteen miles east southeast of Chatham he was boarded by the captain of the barque Fearless, forty days from Battle Harbor, bound for New York. The [vessel] lost two sets of sails, had the bullworks stove, the foretop gallant mast was gone, and she was leaking badly. The crew had been living on the last herring eight days. Captain Murphy furnished eight days provisions and parted company."[18]

The David J. Adams was subsequently seized by Canadian authorities on May 7, 1886, when under the command of a different master. It was then made the subject of extensive international legal proceedings, which lasted for more than three decades.[19][20]

In 1883, Murphy captained the Gloucester-built schooner Notice. This vessel, completed in 1868, was 71 feet in length, had a beam of 21.6 feet, drew 7.9 feet of water, and weighed 66.5 gross tons.[21] Some five years before Murphy took charge, the Notice had undertaken a round-trip voyage of more than 6,000 nautical miles, from Gloucester to the coast of Norway in search of mackerel.[22] Such long-range expeditions demonstrated the sturdy nature of these tiny ships.

Murphy was renowned for having narrowly escaped death on many occasions. In 1870, he signed up to do a fishing trip on board the schooner William F. Poole, but backed out at the last moment.[23] The vessel foundered with the loss of all 10 crewmembers. Although he almost certainly could not swim, Murphy fell overboard or was washed overboard at least four times and somehow managed to survive.[24] He also survived at least three falls from the rigging to the deck, two of these resulting in serious injury. One fall was the result of the mainmast fracturing under him while he was aloft.[25] In 1857, he fell approximately 40 feet when a mast hoop he was grasping parted from its base.[26] He partially landed on an oak water barrel. According to The Fisherman's Own Book:

"The blow broke in the head of the barrel, and the back of the unfortunate man was completely flayed and the skin turned up in strips and rolls on his shoulders. In addition to this, his ankle, which had struck on the house when he fell, was out of joint, and altogether his condition was most deplorable. It is easier to imagine than to tell of the dreadful agony endured for twenty-four long hours before light winds carried the vessel to port, where medical treatment could be obtained."[27]

While at sea, Murphy also survived many violent storms. Aboard the 57-ton schooner B.D. Haskins, in waters south of Nova Scotia, he had a harrowing encounter with the destructive category three hurricane of August 24–25, 1873. The vessel was very nearly driven ashore on Sable Island, popularly known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic."[28] Stripped of her rigging and after having been blasted down to raw wood by wind-driven sand, the B.D. Haskins stayed afloat and eventually managed to limp into Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia.[29] Between 223 and 600 people perished in this storm, primarily fishermen from New England and the Maritime Provinces of Canada.[30] The B.D. Haskins later wrecked, on June 1, 1885, two miles south of Nauset Light, without loss of life.[31]

Even in the closing phase of his career, Murphy continued to expose himself to the risks of the offshore fishery. In December 1896, Murphy was sailing on the 91-ton schooner Margaret Mather and suffered a broken leg after being nearly swept overboard by a rogue wave. This same wave snapped the anchor cable and washed away all items not battened down.[32] In November, 1904, Murphy, age 66, was serving as a hand on the small schooner General Hancock during a Pollock run. Skippered by Captain Curzon, the vessel struck a rock ledge and wrecked when entering the harbor at Rockport, Massachusetts. According to the Boston Herald: "One of the Rockport life saving crew saw the predicament of the shipwrecked men, and hastening to the shore, cast off a rope which was fastened to the mainmast, and by means of which the captain and crew, Daniel Keene, Alfred Curzon and Richard Murphy, came to shore hand over hand."[33] While the Atlantic Ocean took the lives of many of his contemporaries, Murphy's own good fortune held steady.