novel about human-dolphin plot to flood earth?

[Takver]

Can't remember name of 60s, maybe early 70s, mystery/thriller in which three humans, a young woman, a male scientist and a sailor join with dolphins, some escapees from Navy experiments (one has a hand, one can speak English) in a plan to free the seas from human destruction by melting the glaciers and flooding the land (way before anyone knew about climate change). The dolphins take the people from San Francisco Bay to a dolphin meeting at the Farallon Islands. They end up flooding the earth, but some good people are spared.

 

[CassFrank]

This is The Dolphins of Altair by Margaret St. Clair (1967). It is just as described.

From a review: “Fed up with brutal exploitation, the dolphins of Earth take a desperate step. They reach out telepathically to their oppressors. Three humans prove sympathetic: Secretary Madeline Paxton, dock worker Sven Erikson, a former soldier, and Navy psychiatrist Dr. Edward Lawrence.

The humans decide on direct action. Their first challenge; breaking captive dolphins out of the Half Moon Bay naval research station. A direct assault would be suicidal. A more oblique approach might work, one that might not suggest to the authorities that anything more than a natural disaster is to blame. The solution? Use a stolen mine to set off an earthquake of sufficient magnitude to breach Half Moon Bay’s defenses.

This provides only a brief respite. Nowhere on Earth is safe from the dolphin-exploiting humans. If they do not recapture the dolphins, they will very likely kill them outright. What can one handless race lacking all technology do against the cunning apes of the land?”

In a World Full of Wonder

1967’s The Dolphins of Altair is an SF novel by Margaret St. Clair. Fed up with brutal exploitation, the dolphins of Earth take a desperate step. They reach out telepathically to their oppressors. Three humans prove sympathetic: Secretary Madeline Paxton, dock worker Sven Erikson, a former...

jamesdavisnicoll.com

They decide to flood the Earth.

 

[CultureCitizen]

Can't remember name of 60s, maybe early 70s, mystery/thriller in which three humans, a young woman, a male scientist and a sailor join with dolphins, some escapees from Navy experiments (one has a hand, one can speak English) in a plan to free the seas from human destruction by melting the glaciers and flooding the land (way before anyone knew about climate change). The dolphins take the people from San Francisco Bay to a dolphin meeting at the Farallon Islands. They end up flooding the earth, but some good people are spared.

Is that a serious novel or a humorous one?
Most of the land mass is above 200 meters ... it would be disastrous, but hardly a way to put an end to mankind.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Is that a serious novel or a humorous one?
Most of the land mass is above 200 meters ... it would be disastrous, but hardly a way to put an end to mankind.

Very serious. And the humans (except those helping the dolphins) are definitely the Bad Guys.