From ancient myths of sea monsters lurking below to Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the ocean has long been both a source of fear and fascination. For Captain George Bond, a Navy medical officer in the 1960s, the deep sea was humanity’s next frontier. Undersea agriculture, deep sea mining, and human colonies on the ocean floor made up his dream for the future.

While NASA was making front-page headlines for its quest to send a man to the moon, Captain Bond’s “Man-In-The-Sea program” was quietly building homes for “aquanauts” on the ocean floor.

Today we bring you the story of the U.S. Navy’s little-known experiment: Sealab.

The Sealab III habitat is lowered by crane into the ocean. (National Archives)

Project Mercury Astronaut and Sealab Aquanaut Scott Carpenter. (U.S. Navy Photograph taken by Bernie Campoli)

Sealab II aquanauts pose with a sign "Welcome to the Tiltin' Hilton" inside the Sealab II habitat. The ocean floor was slanted, causing a noticeable tilt inside. ((Courtesy of U.S. Naval Undersea Museum)

A Navy photographer films the Sealab I habitat, July 1964. (Courtesy of U.S. Naval Undersea Museum)

We could not have made this story without the help of author Ben Hellwarth, who documents this fascinating chapter of history with extraordinary detail in his book Sealab: America’s Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor. This episode was produced by Sarah Kate Kramer and edited by Joe Richman, Deborah George, and Ben Shapiro. Transcript Available Here
 

Top image from the cover of Life Magazine, October 1968.