Editing Joshua Slocum (section)

=== The ''Pato'' ===
While in the Philippines, in 1874, under a commission from a British architect, Slocum organized native workers to build a 150-ton [[Steamboat|steamer]] in the shipyard at [[Subic Bay]]. In partial payment for the work, he was given the ninety-ton schooner, ''Pato'' (Spanish for "Duck"), the first ship he could call his own.

Ownership of the ''Pato'' afforded Slocum the kind of freedom and autonomy he had never previously experienced. Hiring a crew, he contracted to deliver a cargo to [[Vancouver]] in British Columbia. Thereafter, he used the ''Pato'' as a general freight carrier along the west coast of North America and in voyages back and forth between San Francisco and Hawaii. During this period, Slocum also fulfilled a long-held ambition to become a writer, and became a temporary correspondent for the ''San Francisco Bee''.

The Slocums sold the ''Pato'' in Honolulu in the spring of 1878. Returning to San Francisco, they purchased the ''Amethyst.'' He worked this ship until June 23, 1881.<ref>Geoffrey Wolff, ''The Hard Way Around: The Passages of Joshua Slocum'', pp. 70–75</ref>
 
The Slocums next bought a third share in the ''Northern Light 2''. This large clipper was 233 feet in length, 44 feet beam, 28 feet in the hold. It was capable of carrying 2000 tons on three decks. Although Joshua Slocum called this ship "my best command", it was a command plagued with mutinies and mechanical problems. Under troubling legal circumstances (caused by his alleged treatment of the chief mutineer) he sold his share in the ''Northern Light 2'' in 1883.<ref>Geoffrey Wolff, ''The Hard Way Around: The Passages of Joshua Slocum'', pp. 76–111</ref>