Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

(6) When the owners first requested clearance for a voyage to Gibraltar, they were advised by
Lloyd's that this would require the taking of measures to ensure the watertightness of the scuppers
and hatches, but not that these should be fully welded shut.
217. The doubts expressed by Lloyd's surveyors about the "Royal Scotman's" seaworthiness when
she left Southampton proved to have been wellfounded, for Mrs. Hubbard's next complaint is in
these terms: -
"Also in 1967 while outside the Straits of Gibraltar, the steering mechanism of the vessel became
damaged during a storm. Although we had in advance arranged to enter the port, we were refused
entry when we urgently radioed for assistance and clearance. We were forced to flounder in the
open sea in storm conditions with the vessel not under command while we desperately effected
repairs."
218. In answer to this, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office told me that the Gibraltar authorities
could find no reference to the "Royal Scotman" in their records, and that the Captain of the Port was
sure that no disabled vessel of any description was refused entry to the port, and left in open sea,
in 1967 or - for that matter - at any time.
219. Even this was not the end of the misfortunes suffered by the "Royal Scotman" and her owners.
Mrs. Hubbard goes on: -
"While in Corfu in 1968, the British Consul, Major Forte, spread rumours about us to the effect that
we held black magic rites aboard ship, were poisoning the wells and were casting spells on the
cattle.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Greece, Mr. Patakos, stated that he had had so much pressure put on
him by the British with stories that we were under investigation by Interpol for various reasons that
he had been forced to ask us to leave. He has since apologized and invited our return.
A man by the name of Jack Lundin who was staying at the British Consulate in Casablanca
represented himself to be a reporter for the "Manchester Guardian" and spread rumours to the
Panamanian Consul and to the editor of a local newspaper that we were wanted by Interpol for
smuggling hashish to France and South America."
At my instigation, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office investigated these complaints also, with
the following results: -
(1) By August 1968, the "Royal Scotman" had been transferred to the Panamanian Register, and
once more re-named; she was now the "Apollo". She had been joined in the Mediterranean by
another Scientology vessel, the "Athena", also flying the Panamanian flag: this ship too had been
removed by her owners from the United Kingdom register, on which she had previously figured as
the "Avon River".
(2) Both vessels put into Corfu, and their owners began to negotiate for the purchase of a property
there. This brought them to the attention of the local authorities, and the Nomarch sought the views
of Major Forte, the Honorary British Vice-Consul. Major Forte, as he was bound to do, told the
Nomarch that the Scientologists' presence in Corfu was of no concern to Her Majesty's
Government, and referred him to the Government's official statement of policy about Scientology
given to the House on 25th July 1968. He volunteered no further information to the Nomarch or to
anyone else.