Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An haifi Murphy a Westchester County, New York, kuma an nada shi a matsayin mai kula da jirgin ruwa a ranar 10 ga Agusta, 1841. Ya yi aiki a lokacin yakin da Mexico a Vera Cruz
da Tabasco a cikin jirgin. Ya yi murabus a matsayin mai wucewa a ranar 10 ga Mayu, 1852, bayan aikinsa na karshe a matsayin mataimaki a kan binciken John G. Barnard na Isthmus na Tehuantepec. Ya shiga cikin kamfanoni masu zaman kansu, yana aiki a matsayin jami'in farko a kan Collins 'line of steamships, mai binciken birni na birnin New York, Babban Injiniya na Brooklyn Navy Yard, kuma a karshe a matsayin memba na Majalisar Dattijan New York (4th D.) a 1860 da 1861.