I used to build boats out of leaves, sticks and blades of grass. I'd fashion a sail out of a bubble gum wrapper, sheet it with strips of bark, and mount it on a sturdy stick for its mast. The boat would have a crew of bugs, whatever bugs that I could find that were easy to catch. One's with wings would not do, and spiders...well, spiders were terrifying to me and still are. I usually found small weevils or pill bugs to Shanghai and then I'd load 'em up, head to the edge of the sidewalk in front of our house with the garden hose in my hand and gently set the leaf boat and crew in the gutter. I then ran quickly back to the spigot turned on the water and ran back to the gutter to watch the cataclysmic wave pick up the tiny boat and unwilling crew and launch them downhill. The voyage usually ended up with an abandoned ship and bugs overboard. Some were lost at sea, never to be found again. The rest I gathered up, reenlisted them into my navy and did it all over again till all were lost.

Today I have a real boat built to cross oceans and ride waves. This boat comes with real human crew: one asshole and a beautiful woman named Jen. The boat also comes with bugs, especially spiders. When I went and set anchor in Hanalei Bay last year a spider crawled out from the chain locker and scared the shit out of me. I watched it emerge like a tiny grape with legs. It hit the deck at full speed and then it quickly made its way up the forestay and disappeared into the rolled up head sail. I never saw it again. I don't know what happened to it. It Probably got hurled into the sea the next time we left anchor and unfurled the jib in the trades.

It had sailed across an ocean with us. I'm sure it was hungry. What did it eat? Did we carry a crew of other bugs like live provisions for the spider to eat? How long can spiders live without food? I don't know the answers to these questions.
I do know that bugs have crossed oceans on floating debris and boats alike. They've landed on distant shores of uninhabited islands to colonize and make a life for themselves. The did it without a plan, without a thought, without an expectation. They just took what life threw at them and did the best they could. Some succeeded, some perished forever. I imagine that the bugs on boats did a little better than the ones that were not.