Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

ed-faced man boomed, 'Mr Hubbard is an explorer himself.' Amos Jessup, who was standing
directly behind Hubbard, marvelled at his composure.
Rare picture of the 'mystery ship', the Royal Scotman, in which the
commodore sailed the Mediterranean. (Granada Television Ltd)
The improbable sailors boarded a coach waiting outside the airport and were driven straight to
Southampton Docks, to the berth occupied by the Royal Scotsman. 'Everyone climbed out and
stared up at this huge ship,' Jessup recalled. 'I was startled and amazed by the size of it. It was
three stories high and 357 feet long. I was assigned to be the bos'n. I didn't know all I should have
known about bos'ning and I was rather shocked at the magnitude of what I'd been handed.
'After we got on board, LRH called everyone together and had us sit on the staircase between A
deck and B deck. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and said, "This may look like a big and
overwhelming thing, but don't let it scare you. I've handled ships bigger than this. She handles like
a dream, drives like a Cadillac with big twin screws. There's nothing to it." We were already a cando
kind of group, but everyone felt a bit better after that.'
Over the next few days, there was constant activity at the Royal Scotsman's berth. Every few hours a
truck would arrive from Saint Hill loaded with filing cabinets which were humped on board. Taxis
disgorged eager Saint Hill volunteers, clutching their bags and the 'billion-year contract' which
Hubbard had recently introduced as a condition of service in the Sea Org. Mary Sue and the
children arrived and took over the upper-deck accommodation which had been reserved for the
Hubbard family.