Realizing that the ship needed a captain that had not been 'sitting with his finger on the trigger', the new United Earth Oceans Organization (or UEO) recruits Bridger to assume command of the boat he designed. The ship was recalled to drydock and refitted to become less of a military force and more of an exploration and research vessel. Following the 'Livingston Trench Incident' in which the world was almost plunged into a nuclear war, the seaQuest was left without a captain. During his self-imposed exile on the island, Bridger's wife, Carol, also dies, leaving him totally alone. He attempted to develop a form of verbal communication between Humans and dolphins, but eventually tried to develop a series of hand signals. Devoting the majority of his time to science, Bridger rescued a dolphin, whom he named Darwin, from a fisherman's net in a lagoon. However, following the death of his son Robert during a global war in the early 21st century, Bridger retires from the service and retreats to an island somewhere in the Yucatán Peninsula. Designed by navy captain Nathan Bridger, the seaQuest was originally designed as a military vessel. Funded by the United States government and other private loans, the seaQuest was the largest submarine to ever travel the seas. In 'the near future' (beginning in the year 2018), the series follows the adventures of the high-tech submarine seaQuest DSV 4600.
