The personal history of a pioneer woman oceanographer and her role in the development of science during the Cold War. Sea Legs is the story of Kathleen Crane, one of the first women oceanographers out of the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. By turns personal and objective, Crane tells how her quest for freedom led her to the sea and her research of deep-sea underwater volcanoes. As research doors in the United States closed during the 1980s, Crane charted her scientific future with the Europeans and with scientists from the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. In the process she became an unwitting diplomat. From the Galapagos dives in the Alvin and the early searches for Titanic , to many of the first scientific expeditions of the Arctic, Crane offers an exclusive and compelling first-hand account as a pioneer for women in oceanography. An explorer, environmentalist, and filmmaker, Cranes story encompasses the worlds oceans, politics, international relations, scientific espionage, ships, and a passion for the natural world.
At its heart, however, this is a story about humanity and the forces that drive people to persevere, despite the odds, and do the things they love.