D.B. Murphy

D. B. Murphy is a minor character of the novel. He is a sailor of Carrigaloe. Fort Camden and Fort Carlisle, that's where he hails from. He belongs to that place and his little woman's down there. She's waiting for him, for England, home, and beauty. She's his own true wife he hasn't seen for seven years now, sailing about. He is a person, who works on transport, or special vessel, or serves on a warship. The sailor was a general definition of his occupation. Depending on the functions performed or the specialization, seamen can be divided into more precise professions, such as captain, navigator, pilot, sailor. D. B. Murphy was a representative of the last group.

D.B. Murphy could easily picture his advent on this scene, the homecoming to the mariner's roadside shielding after having diddled Davy Jones, rainy night with a blind moon. Across the world for a wife. Quite a number of stories there were on that particular Alice Ben Bolt topic, Enoch Arden and Rip van Winkle and does anybody hereabouts remember Caoc O'Leary, a favorite and most trying declamation piece by way of poor John Casey and a bit of perfect poetry in its own small way. Never about the runaway wife coming back, however much devoted to the absentee. The face at the window! Judge of his astonishment when he finally did breast the tape and the awful truth dawned upon him anent his better half, wrecked in his affections.

He scarcely seemed to be a Dublin resident for the main hero. The thing that carried him the most was his boat. Murphy’s boat was put off the ways at Alexandra basin, the only launch that year. Right enough the harbors were there only no ships ever called.