From 1990 to 1993, Bremerton native Stephen G. Ladd rowed and sailed a twelve-foot boat 6,500 miles, and traveled with her another 8,500 miles via cars and ships.

Ladd himself designed and built the diminutive vessel, which he christened Squeak after a dearly departed cat. Squeak served as Ladd's transportation and lodging as he voyaged down the Mississippi, to the ports of Panama, along the Colombian coast, over the Andes, and down the dark rivers of South America.

This site offers a glimpse of Ladd's adventures aboard Squeak. (For a much fuller account, don't miss Ladd's book, "Three Years in a 12-foot Boat".)