Peter Frank, the Escanaba man who gained national renown for a canoe journey last year, carefully sews himself a pair of paints while stopped in Illinois in summer 2025. (Photo by Kennith Johnson)

ESCANABA — The young man from Escanaba who paddled the Great Loop in a canoe is auctioning off a pair of trousers he made during that historic journey and wore during the final month.

Peter Frank completed the over 4,800-mile expedition in October after being away for close to 17 months. He was greeted by friends, family, media and fans when he finally reached the Escanaba Municipal Beach to conclude the loop.

Frank had gathered a number of followers on his trip — there were people he had friendly encounters with in person, and others who discovered him online and fell in love with his passion, persistence, warm nature, and fun attire.

For Frank’s fans, reading about his time spent on shore was as fascinating as the canoeist’s adventures on the water. There were spells where he was laid up due to weather or injury, but the shore time was far from squandered.

“Throughout the expedition, I designed and handmade several historical inspired practical outfits, including a pair of red and white striped trousers from the pirate-like ensemble I became known for, which unexpectedly became recognizable to hundreds of thousands of followers online,” Frank recently wrote to the Press.

Frank was reportedly recovering from a concussion “after being bludgeoned in the skull by a fish” — specifically, an Asian carp in Illinois — when he made the iconic striped trousers.

“I recently decided to publicly auction the trousers to help fund my next expedition: a circumnavigation attempt aboard a bluewater sailboat,” the adventurer reported.

The auction is being held publicly in the Facebook group “Peter’s Voyage.” To submit a bid, people can name their price in the comments of the relevant post. As of Friday afternoon, the top bid was $3,500.

In the post, Frank states that the winner of the well-worn apparel will receive: “self-made expedition slops (unwashed), certificate of legitimacy, signed expedition prints, a handwritten letter about the journey and the pants for context and documentation purposes, and a marked map of the route the pants were completed in.”

The auction closes at noon on Monday.

“It’s cool because this is essentially a different form of sponsorship, where instead of exchanging advertisement for funding on an expedition, it’s an auction for memorabilia that will ultimately sponsor a continuation of adventure, and I thought that idea was really interesting,” Frank told the Press.

Though he has been eyeing up potential vessels, there is no planned date for the young man’s next voyage. Departure could be “a couple years, or as early as fall if I organize my life correctly,” Frank replied to a Facebook follower.