Polymath (novel)

Polymath is a science fiction novel by John Brunner, first published in 1974 by DAW Books, an expansion of Castaways' World (Ace 1963).

There the survivors must face the reality of their precarious situation; the ship was lost and little had been salvaged from it.

Everything comes to depend on one bright young man accidentally among them, a trainee planet-builder ("polymath").

While it would have been his job to oversee all aspects of establishing a successful colony he faces major difficulties; not only is his education incomplete, he had been studying a vastly different planet.

The other, with the polymath, lands on water, allowing the passengers just enough time to escape the sinking ship.