Editing Joshua Slocum (section)

==Voyage of the ''Destroyer''==
In the northern winter of 1893–94, Slocum undertook what he described as, at that time, being "the hardest voyage that I have ever made, without any exception at all."<ref name="Eldritch Press: Voyage of the Detroyer">{{cite web|last1=Slocum|first1=Joshua|title=Voyage of the Destroyer from New York to Brazil|url=http://www.eldritchpress.org/js/destroyer.htm|publisher=Eldritch Press|date=1894|access-date=13 September 2016|archive-date=August 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821230149/http://eldritchpress.org/js/destroyer.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> It involved delivering the steam-powered torpedo boat ''Destroyer'' from the east coast of the United States to [[Brazil]].

''Destroyer'' was a ship {{convert|130|ft}} in length, conceived by the Swedish-American inventor and mechanical engineer [[John Ericsson]], and intended for the defence of harbours and coastal waters. Equipped in the early 1880s, with sloping armour plate and a bow-mounted submarine gun, it was an evolution of the [[Monitor (warship)|Monitor warship type]] of the American Civil War. ''Destroyer'' was intended to fire an early form of torpedo at an opposing ship from a range of {{convert|300|ft}}, and was a "vessel of war partially armored to attack bows-on at short range."<ref name="Archive.org: Ericsson's Destroyer and Submarine Gun">{{cite web|last1=Jaques|first1=William H.|title=Ericsson's Destroyer and Submarine Gun|url=https://archive.org/stream/ericssonsdestro00jaqugoog#page/n4/mode/2up|website=Archive.org|publisher=GP Putnam|access-date=13 September 2016|date=1885}}</ref>

Despite the loss of the ''Aquidneck'', and the privations of his family's voyage in the self-built ''Liberdade'', Slocum retained a fondness for Brazil. During 1893, Brazil was faced with a political crisis in [[Rio Grande do Sul]], and an attempt at civil war that was intensified by the [[Revolta da Armada|revolt of the country's navy]] in September.<ref name="Stanford University Press: A Modern History of Brazil">{{cite book|last1=Bello|first1=José Maria|title=A Modern History of Brazil: 1889–1964|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O26rAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA134|publisher=Stanford University Press|access-date=13 September 2016|date=1966|isbn=9780804702386}}</ref>

Slocum agreed to a request by the Brazilian government to deliver the ''Destroyer'' to [[Pernambuco]], Brazil, with financial and vindictive motives. As Slocum describes, his contract with the commander of government forces at Pernambuco was, "to go against the rebel fleet, and sink them all, if we could find them – big and little – for a handsome sum of gold ..." Slocum also saw the possibility of getting even with the "arch rebel" Admiral Melo (of whom he writes as "Mello"): "Confidentially: I was burning to get a rake at Mello and his ''Aquideban''. He it was, who in that ship expelled my bark, the ''Aquidneck'', from [[Ilha Grande]] some years ago, under the cowardly pretext that we might have sickness on board. But that story has been told. I was burning to let him know and palpably feel that this time I had in dynamite instead of hay".

Towed by the ''Santuit'', Slocum and a small crew aboard the ''Destroyer'' left [[Sandy Hook, New Jersey|Sandy Hook]], [[New Jersey]], on 7 December 1893. The following day the ship was already taking on water: "A calamity has overtaken us. The ship's top seams are opening and one of the new sponsons, the starboard one, is already waterlogged." Despite all hands pumping and bailing, by midnight the seas were extinguishing the fires in the boilers which were kept alight only by throwing on rounds of pork fat and tables and chairs from the vessel.

With a storm continuing to blow on the 9th, the crew was able to lower the level of water in the hold and plug some of the holes and leaks. The bailing out of water, using a large improvised canvas bag, continued from the 9th to the 13th and succeeded in maintaining the level of water in the hold below {{convert|3|ft|0}}. On the 13th they were again hit by a storm and cross seas and had to bail all night. On the 14th, heavy seas disabled the rudder. By the afternoon of 15 December, the ''Destroyer'' was to the south-west of [[Puerto Rico]], heading for Martinique, and still weathering storms.

By that time, with the fires in the boilers extinguished, all hands were bailing for their lives: "The main hull of the ''Destroyer'' is already a foot (30cm) under water, and going on down". The crew had no other option than to keep bailing and try to keep the ship afloat, as the vessel "could not be insured for the voyage; nor would any company insure a life on board". By the morning of the 16th the storm had abated, allowing the ''Destroyer'' to anchor to the south of Puerto Rico.

Although the ship's best steam pump had been put out of action on 19 December, more favourable seas allowed the crew to reach [[Martinique]], where repairs were made before again setting sail on 5 January 1894. On 18 January, the ''Destroyer'' arrived at [[Fernando de Noronha]], an island some {{convert|175|mi|round=5}} from the coast of Brazil, before finally reaching [[Recife]], Pernambuco, on the 20th. Slocum wrote: "My voyage home from Brazil in the canoe ''Liberdade'', with my family for crew and companions, some years ago, although a much longer voyage was not of the same irksome nature."

At Pernambuco, the ''Destroyer'' joined up with the Brazilian navy and the crew was again engaged in repairs as the long tow in heavy seaways had severed rivets at the bow, resulting in leaks. Wet powder led to a failed test-firing of the submarine gun and the ship was grounded to remove the projectile. But the strain of the swell led to a further leak. Following further repairs, the ''Destroyer'' made for Bahia with replenishments of powder for the Brazilian fleet, arriving on 13 February. Once there, however, Admiral Gonçalves of the Brazilian navy seized the ship. At the Arsenal at Bahia, an apparently incompetent alternative crew grounded the ''Destroyer'' on a rock in the basin. The vessel was holed and subsequently abandoned.