While our seas are stressed as never before, we know more about outer space than what lies at the bottom of our oceans.

The Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution provides a rare opportunity to see a research facility which has penetrated deep into our oceans and lakes with spectacular results. Located on the east coast of Florida about 75 miles south of Cape Canaveral, Harbor Branch has also played a significant role in outer space.

Dr. Joe Macinnis, a Canadian medical doctor and underwater scientist, has participated in Harbor Branch expeditions, including the 1994 exploration and filming of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The ship _ immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot's ballad _ foundered during a Great Lakes storm while carrying a load of iron ore. Dr Macinnis said it is only 25 feet shorter than the Titanic. Harbor Branch submersibles also explored the wreck of the Lusitania which was torpedoed by a U Boat off the coast of Ireland during World War I. This wreck has great significance as some historians feel the sinking was a factor in the US becoming involved in the war.

But Harbor Branch does more than explore at great depths. It is actively researching and practising aquaculture to help restock depleted fishing grounds, shellfish beds and other food sources. It also conducts a variety of research projects including bioluminescence, the study of light emanating from deep sea creatures Copepods, for example, produce squirts of light that act as decoys when threatened, much as squids squirt ink as self-defence.

Other sea creatures use bioluminescence to disguise their silhouettes. Some flashes are emitted from dinoflagellates which are part animal, part-plant, single-celled organisms which can cause boats' wakes to glow at night. The angler fish, the Melanocetus Johnsonii, possesses what looks like a light bulb at the end of a fishing rod. Attracted by the light, many smaller fish then swim right into the angler fish's fearsome teeth.

Research indicates that most deep sea creatures are attracted by dim glows but are repelled by bright flashes of light. There are indications that some creatures, which live at great depth, have been permanently blinded by bright lights from submersibles. To protect marine life at great depth, an infrared-sensitive video camera and other equipment have been designed.

One of Edwin Link's earlier submersibles on view beside the research vessel J. Seward Johnson at Harbor Branch.

Other Harbor Branch work involves underwater geology, mapping the ocean depths and doing wastewater monitoring. Recent developments range from an innovative electric rim marine propeller to the discovery of compounds in sponges which could help to cure cancer.

Harbor Branch scientists are also seeking other specimens from the seas which could have medicinal properties of use during organ transplants or as cancer cures. While rain forests are being explored for exotic plants with curative powers, such botanical potential is miniscule compared to the diversity of marine life waiting to be discovered in the vastness of our oceans.

Harbor Branch has its own fleet of three submersibles and three RVs which travel the globe to study the marine sciences. RV stands for Research Vessel, not recreational vehicles, the staff somewhat ruefully points out. I was at Harbor Branch just as the RV J. Seward Johnson sailed in after a trip to the Galapagos Islands, first made famous by Charles Darwin on his voyage in The Beagle. This 204 foot long ship has an 8,000 nautical mile range which can take it to any of the world's oceans while accommodating 40 people.

Harbor Branch grew from a meeting of the minds of J. Seward Johnson, an immensely wealthy heir of the Johnson & Johnson Company and Edwin A. Link, a pioneer of both aerospace and deep sea technologies. Link is best known for his invention of the famed Link Trainer which simulates actual flight conditions, saving lives, scarce fuel and planes in pilot training. Johnson and Link combined their wealth and talent to develop Harbor Branch, where one in six of the 200 staff members hold Ph.D's. Johnson's son, J. Seward Johnson Jr., now Chief Executive Officer of Harbor Branch, is also a talented sculptor. His life-like bronze figures, along with an array of modern sculptures created by his friends, provide an artistic dimension which delights many visitors.

The campus sits on 500 acres on the Indian River Lagoon which is, in fact, not a river at all but an estuary where salt and freshwaters meet. The Indian River area generates immense wealth. It comprises a $2.1 billion citrus industry as well as generating $300 million annually in marine and boat sales. The waterway also serves as a spawning and nursery ground for ocean and lagoon fish and generates $300 million annually in commercial fish revenues. It also generates 90 percent of Florida's clam harvest, which represents 15 percent of all US clam landings.

There are many spectacular homes, and luxurious vessels to be seen along the Indian River. Prince Charles has stayed in the area while playing at the polo grounds near Vero Beach. These polo grounds have their own Canadian connection, being owned by the Weston family.

Indian River is also part of the Intracoastal Waterway which skirts inside several of the elongated barrier islands which lie just off Florida's east coastline. These barrier islands protect research vessels and equipment from the many hurricanes which strike the Florida coasts. The location also affords researchers direct access to the Atlantic Ocean as well as the rich variety of marine life in the Indian River Lagoon. It is also convenient for ships to explore the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal.

While Harbor Branch is world-renowned for its undersea exploration, its submersible technology actually can be traced to the fledgling aircraft industry. In his early days, Edwin Link ran a flying school and met such aviation legends as Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. His Link Trainer anticipated virtual reality almost seven decades ago and revolutionized pilot training. Link's new trainer received a boost after President Roosevelt shifted America's infant air mail service from private hands to the US Air Corps after charges of fraud were levelled at some private carriers. But the military pilots had little instrumentation, or training, to cope with the hazards of regular mail runs. Five pilots were killed and six seriously injured during the first week the Air Corps took over the task. After more accidents, Roosevelt returned the mail runs to private airlines.

The incident gave Link a chance to demonstrate, then sell, six of his trainers, the first of thousands to be built for the US military as well as governments around the world. Over the years, Link trainers evolved from the biplane era into the jet age and later right into the space age. Link Trainers were praised by Winston Churchill for their contribution to Britain's war effort during World War II. Later the trainers enabled astronauts to simulate space flights for craft which had never flown, to destinations no one had ever been, greatly assisting NASA's space program.

Link's engineering genius was also at work on submersibles which vastly extended scientific capabilities in oceanic and freshwater lake research at depths of up to 3,000 feet. Ironically, his submersibles found a further use in the space program when the ill-fated Challenger crashed shortly after lift-off from Kennedy Space Center. At the urgent request of NASA, a Harbor Branch crew was able to locate and recover wreckage from the stricken space rocket.

Harbor Branch is a mere two hour drive south east of Disneyworld, a short journey which can transport visitors from Disney's fantasies to the real world where scientific achievement now outshines the literary creations of Jules Verne.