Voyages is the autobiographical account of the life and voyages of Cheboygan, Michigan native and man of the sea Arden Boileau. His story, which nearly spans the entire Twentieth Century, gives the reader a portrait of the events and changes which defined the century.

Beginning with his first voyage, to his idyllic childhood home on Bois Blanc Island, he describes a succession of voyages which carried him around the Great Lakes with the Lighthouse Service, up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and off to war in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with the US Coast Guard where he witnessed the battles of Saipan and Okinawa and survived attacks by enemy forces and four raging typhoons. He returned to the Great Lakes where he ferried workers constructing the mighty Mackinac Bridge and became partners in a ferry company.

In spite of having only an eighth grade education Mr. Boileau was a great self-learner obtaining a sea captain's license, becoming a diesel mechanic and an accomplished poet and artist. After being slowed down by a stroke at age 88, he began a voyage of the mind by writing poetry and Voyages.

Cover Photo: US Lighthouse Service ship "Marigold" in the 1930's