Seabed mining goes back to 1869, Jules Verne, and   20,000 Leagues Under the Sea  ( paperback for $3.95 ).  Then in the 1870's, the British Challenger Expedition explored the world's oceans for polymetallic nodules. Amazingly enough, I was once an authority in deep seabed mining.  I was the staff manager in the U.S. Senate for the  Deep Seabed Mineral Resources Act in 1981 , and attended a variety of Law of the Sea gatherings around the world.  That was more than 40 years ago.  When I was director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute from the mid-80s to 2000, we were with the University of Mississippi the national centers for this topic with funding from the Department of Interior.  I retired almost a quarter century ago, and the field is finally beginning to show some life. But back then, there was one more matter of secret urgency, using this Senate legislation as a post-cover.  A  Russian submarine had sunk close to Hawaii , and our CIA had recovered it.  The Howard Hughes