#charles murphy

[anokha-swad]

The red rose whispers of passion, And the white rose breathes of love; O, the red rose is a falcon, And the white rose is a dove.

[mareislandfoundation]

Digging Himself Into a Hole

November 25, 1899, the will of Charles Murphy of Vallejo, California, was presented by his widow for probate. The value of the real estate and personal property was insignificant with one huge exception, a claim of $100,000 against the United States Government (nearly $3 million dollars today). That claim was associated with the construction of Mare Island’s first graving dock, often referred to as the “stone dry dock.” Twenty-five years before Charles Murphy had won a big contract with the government and that day proved to be both the best and worst day of his life (at least as he says it).

Under the direction of Civil Engineer Calvin Brown construction of the stone dry dock began in 1872 with the building of a cofferdam (think of a dam) to hold back water in the river and then excavation of the pit that would become the dry dock. For nearly a year, Mare Island employees dug that pit by hand, hauling the spoils out by horse drawn carts, and succeeding in excavating nearly nineteen thousand cubic yards of earth, before the decision was made to contract the work out to a private company.

The private company that won the contract was owned by Charles Murphy. The contract stipulated that Mr. Murphy had 120 days to complete the excavation, but he did not complete the work within the period of performance. Work was allowed to continue for one year, but when the excavation was still incomplete the government terminated his contract in 1874 (he had excavated nearly 80,000 cubic yards when the contract was terminated). Mr. Murphy charged that he could not complete the work in time as the government had failed in its responsibility to maintain the excavation free of water, had prohibited him from using explosives to facilitate the excavation, had failed to provide access to the entire site, and required the spoils to be hauled an unreasonable distance from the site of the excavation greatly increasing costs. He submitted a bill for $149,199 for the added scope and he was paid $59,260. But like every story, there were two sides.

Three years after Charles Murphy’s contract was terminated, both Mr. Murphy and Mr. Brown drew the attention of the San Francisco Chronicle that had investigated Mare Island and the construction of the Dry Dock. The Chronicle poked holes in Murphy’s claims and labeled Civil Engineer Brown as both incompetent and accused him of favoring incompetent contractors such as Murphy who were perpetrating fraud upon the government. In addition to not supporting Murphy’s claims, the article went on to claim that Murphy owed the government penalty fees for failing to comply with contract and it severely criticized Brown’s design of the dry dock. The article undoubtedly caused a stir at the time, but it did not deter Murphy from seeking restitution for what he believed was reasonable compensation.

Not satisfied with the $59,260 payment, Mr. Murphy filed a claim with the government for that extra $100,000 mentioned at the start of this post. That claim was adjudicated by the Commander of Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Adm. John Rogers, and a settlement of $5,685 was authorized. Mr. Murphy took the money with the stipulation that he was not satisfied and that he intended to challenge the settlement, which he did. For the next thirteen years he pursued his claim through the US Court of Claims all the way through the Supreme Court where he lost. He lost because the government treated his acceptance of the $5,685 as a release of all further claims even though that was not the case as testified by the government agents and by the receipt, he provided at the time that clearly stated that he was accepting the funds as partial payment. As a matter of interest, he had that receipt drafted by General Frisbie, the man who is widely accepted as the city Vallejo’s true founder.

Failing in the courts, Mr. Murphy then turned to the US Congress for relief and for eight years petitioned the 48th through the 50th Congress. Twice he succeeded in the US House of Representatives as they found in his favor based on the merits, but in both cases the bill to make him whole was overturned in the US Senate. As we discussed at the beginning of the post, Mr. Murphy went to his grave with his claim still outstanding. As for Calvin Brown’s design of the dry dock, it worked out OK. That dry dock was used up until Mare Island Naval Shipyard’s closure in 1996 and it can be seen to this day outside the Mare Island Museum still holding out the waters of the North Bay despite thousands of dockings and multiple earthquakes. Seems as though the Chronicle may have been a little unfounded in their criticisms of Calvin Brown’s design.

Dennis Kelly

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irish actors that cannot hide their distaste of the english royal family.

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Yall tiktok editors need to chill istg those cunty ass transitions are lethal weapons used to propagate me into developing a crush ANYONE at this point.

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TADHG MURPHY as Ned Low & ZACH MCGOWAN as Charles Vane in BLACK SAILS (2014—2017) Chapter XI

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So we know Tommy kept the photo on the right with him when he left arrow, hoping that he gave the one on the left to Charlie. Maybe we see it in the movie🤞 We may not be lucky enough to actually see Grace one last time onscreen but at least she can be present via her photo (like she always was in the series)

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BLACK SAILS (2014 – 2017) tadhg murphy as edward low zach mcgowan as charles vane

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Red Eye + The Moral of Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault