The US government’s current interest in deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules on the Pacific seabed (“A rush for marine minerals brews three miles below sea level”, Lex, April 16) inevitably recalls the launch of the Glomar Explorer — a specialist deep-sea crane built by the reclusive American billionaire Howard Hughes to pursue this same promise of an undersea Pacific El Dorado.
The launch of the project in 1974 received global media attention, and is credited with helping spark investor interest in the idea that has continued to this day.
But Hughes was not after nodules. The Glomar Explorer’s true mission, developed for the CIA, was to recover nuclear missiles and codebooks from a smitten Soviet nuclear submarine, K-129, which had sunk in 1968 in the northern Pacific in waters over three miles deep. At least part of the sub’s hull was recovered, together with the remains of six Soviet sailors who were then given a formal burial at sea. But the value to the US of this enormously costly operation remains a subject of debate, reflecting the shady nature of the deal.
Jonathan Birchall
New York, NY, US