Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

Larcombe paid another visit to Saint Hill Manor and was astonished at the numbers of people who
were there. 'It was quite an eye opener. As I pulled up outside the house a bell sounded
somewhere and people began pouring out, hundreds and hundreds of them, like wasps leaving a
nest. It was an incredible sight. I was completely taken aback by how much the place had grown. I
discovered there were so many students there that the sewage system could not cope.'
Hubbard, musing on Scientology's multitude of problems in the autumn of 1966, arrived at a daring
and original solution. He kept it a secret, because he loved secrets, although he hinted at what was
on his mind in a remark to John McMaster, recently returned from South Africa. 'You know, John,' he
said, 'we have got to do something about all this trouble we are having with governments. There's a
lot of high-level research still to be done and I want to be able to get on with it without constant
interference. Do you realize that 75 per cent of the earth's surface is completely free from the control
of any government? That's where we could be free - on the high seas.'[19] McMaster had no idea
what he meant and Hubbard did not choose to elaborate.
Soon, senior Scientologists were arriving from the United States to take part in a top-secret project
under Ron's personal direction. They could sometimes be seen scrambling in and out of a rubber
dinghy on the lake or pouring over navigational charts in a classroom. Some evenings they met
behind closed doors in the garage and it was said that they spent their time practising tying knots.
By December it was known they were involved in something called the 'Sea Project'. But still no one
could imagine what it was.
1. 'The Findings on the US Food and Drug Agency' [sic], Church of Scientology, 1968
2. HCO Bulletin, 11 May 1963
3. Saturday Evening Post, 21 March 1964
4. Interview with Ken Urquhart, Maclean, VA., April 1986
5. Interview with Vosper
6. Anderson, op. cit.
7. Enquiry into the Practice & Effects of Scientology, Sir John Foster, 1971
8. The Road To Total Freedom, Roy Wallis, 1976
9. Secretarial Executive Director, Office of LRH, 9 February 1966
10. The People, 20 March 1966
11. Saxon Hamilton Journal, Summer 1985
12. CIA files obtained via FOI
13. Rhodesia Sunday Mail, 22 May 1966
14. Interview with McMaster, London, March 1986
15. CIA memo, 22 August 1966
16. Interview with McMaster
17. CIA memo
18. Interview with Kemp
19. Interview with McMaster