By the middle of the 19th century, as scientists explored the frontiers of polar regions and the atmosphere, the ocean remained silent and inaccessible. The history of how this changed-of how the depths became a scientific passion and a cultural obsession, an engineering challenge and a political attraction-is the story that unfolds in this book.

Tells the story of how the ocean became a scientific passion and a cultural obsession, an engineering challenge and a political attraction.