The Infinite Blue

 
A diverse and international group of six high school students wins the opportunity of a lifetime, to join a scientific research vessel in the South Pacific. But on the fourth morning of the voyage, they wake up to find the ship idling and discover that nearly all of the crew and scientists have fled in the lifeboats during the night, and that the engine has been disabled. They're left powerless in the middle of the ocean with only a deranged cook and a drunken teacher for company. Thousands of miles from the nearest land, they've got to find some way of getting the ship working again and navigating themselves to safety through ever worsening conditions. They also have to learn to navigate around each other, which for Freddy Fraser is particularly tricky, given that he cheated his way into winning his prize and really shouldn't be on the RV Ulysses in the first place...

THE INFINITE BLUE is a gripping and often blackly comic adventure that's at once a tense survival story but also a metaphor for teenagers navigating the strange and often contradictory world bequeathed them by adults.