Cobb Seamount, first discovered in 1950 off the coast of Washington, was the focus of a multi-year scientific research program named “Project Sea Use” from 1968 until 1975. This collaborative effort, involving private industry, state government, and the U.S. military, aimed to install a manned underwater habitat in international waters on the summit of a submerged volcano. Ultimately, the aims of “Project Sea Use” were never fully realized, but the story of this ill-fated endeavor reveals important scientific, political, and military characteristics of marine research at the height of the Cold War. “Project Sea Use” embodied the hopes and fears of a generation of scientists, explorers, and politicians who envisioned a near future when humans would colonize the seafloor. The oceans presented a new frontier for exploration and seemed to promise untapped natural resources. But accompanying this fantasy was the nightmare of an overpopulated earth, thermonuclear war, and new forms of colonial competition between maritime nations.
