The history and operations of the Panama Canal during the 1980s and 1990s come to life in this vibrant memoir by retired canal pilot Kenneth P. Puckett and co-author William D. LaRue. In this autobiography, Captain Puckett shares "sea stories" and other exciting personal tales that have made him a popular maritime instructor and cruise ship lecturer.

He co-authored this book with longtime journalist William D. LaRue.

For nearly 16 years, until Captain Puckett retired in 1996, he helped to guide ships through the historic Panama Canal on more than 1,400 transits. On these pages he navigates through tales of his rocky childhood in northern Kentucky; his military adventures in both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, where he served two tours of Vietnam; and what it was like in Panama in the 1980s as the Central American country fell into chaos under the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega.

Enjoy the breezy storytelling of Captain Puckett as he shares what it was like being a maritime pilot on the canal during its turbulent years of transition to ownership by Panama after nearly a century under U.S. control. But don't think Captain Puckett didn't have fun along the way. He blends into this autobiography many of his unforgettable sea stories, such as the time he encountered a "pooping monkey" on a ship's bridge, and the time he once pranked a ship's captain into thinking he had plowed his vessel through a banana farm.