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• s  aimlessly drifting
• a  borne on the water; floating
• s  covered with water
  the main deck was afloat (or awash)

• Every major financial firm seems too big to fail, leading the government to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to keep them afloat.
• Since winning the presidency in 2004, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has managed to keep the nation afloat, even during the current global recession.
• Watertight bulkheads, which stored drinking water and supplies, kept the ship afloat if the hull was breached.

• adrift
• aimless
• directionless
• planless
• rudderless
• undirected
• awash
• flooded
• inundated
• overflowing

• aground

News & Articles

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• Data: Louisiana public defenders running deficits
  Nearly 70 percent of Louisiana's public defenders offices ran deficits last year, requiring them to dip heavily into fund balances to keep operations afloat as they struggle to represent clients who can't afford attorneys.
  June 15, 2013 - FOX 8 New Orleans
• Ralph Graves, a Managing Editor of Life Magazine, Dies at 88
  As the last managing editor of the weekly Life magazine, Mr. Graves strove to keep an American institution afloat in its turbulent final years.
  June 15, 2013 - New York Times
• Repair gear can keep boating trip afloat
  Repair gear can keep boating trip afloat Houston Chronicle Copyright 2013 Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 9:43 pm, Wednesday, June 12, 2013 An hour into a planned three-day fishing trip on the Sabine River, we stumbled onto a mother lode of fat, feisty and seemingly famished white bass. Just about every ...
  June 13, 2013 - Houston Chronicle

Quotes

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• Max Baucus in International Herald Tribune
  Obama "now has a bill to sign that will create millions of good-paying jobs and help families and businesses stay afloat financially," said Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who was a leading architect of the measure.