Fergus Crane

Fergus Crane lives with his mother above the bakery shop where she works. She supplements her meagre income by producing seemingly useless mail order items for the mysterious 'Fateful Voyage Trading Company'.

Fergus wins a scholarship to an unusual school, a ship called Betty-Jeanne. But with staff who refer to the students as 'me hearties' and a curriculum strangely dominated by tunnelling skills, something seems suspicious.

Then one day, without warning, the school ship sails away with Fergus’s classmates aboard. Is there some connection between the Betty-Jeanne, the Fateful Voyage Trading Company, and Fergus’s father, who disappeared years ago on a treasure hunting expedition? Fergus sets out to rescue his friends with the aid of his long-lost inventor uncle and some wacky gadgets.