Some of his experiences as a mariner are detailed in a chapter titled "The Adventures of Captain Richard Murphy" in The Fisherman’s Own Book, published by Proctor Brothers in 1882.

[1] Murphy was born in or near the fishing village of Canso, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, British North America on September 28, 1838.

Beginning at a very young age, Murphy served as a crew member on various mackerel schooners sailing out of Gloucester.

[5] During the late 1850s and 1860s, Murphy crewed various schooners sailing to the fishing grounds in pursuit of cod, halibut, and haddock.

[9]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: 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.

Most voyages were to Georges Bank, a broad area of treacherous shoals, rich in marine life, located about 150 miles east of Gloucester.

"[15] In April 1893, the Laughing Water rescued the surviving crewmembers of the Gloucester schooner Genesta, which capsized off Barnegat, New Jersey.

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.

[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.

Haskins, in waters south of Nova Scotia, he had a harrowing encounter with the destructive category three hurricane of August 24–25, 1873.

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.

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.

On September 19, 1895, while aboard the Gloucester schooner Coquette, which was tied up at Boston, Murphy rescued a woman from a suicide attempt by pulling her from the water.

[35] However, in 1915 or 1916, he moved in with daughter, Alice Gertrude (Murphy) Doyle, and her family at Geneva Avenue in Dorchester, a few miles south of downtown Boston.

Adventures of Captain Richard Murphy in The Fishermen’s Own Book, Proctor Brothers Publishers, Gloucester, Massachusetts (1882), p 217-226.