Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

Two days later, Doreen received a nasty taste of life at sea. Weather reports indicated that a
hurricane was heading straight for the Azores. It was too dangerous for a ship the size of the Apollo
to remain in the harbour and there was no time to sail out of reach. Hubbard took the ship to sea
and sailed up and down in the lee of the island, changing course as the wind changed direction. 'It
was a very impressive feat of seamanship,' said Hana Eltringham. 'I was on the bridge for almost
all the time and I was petrified. Day didn't look much different from night, the wind was howling
continually and you could hardly see the bow of the ship because of breaking waves and spray.
LRH sat at the radar for thirty-six hours without a break, except to go to the bathroom. He was very
calm throughout, constantly reassuring everyone it was going to be all right.'[10]
When the hurricane had passed, Doreen was put to work washing dishes in the galley while she
trained first as an 'able seaman', then as a 'page', before she could qualify to join the CMO. She
had to appear before a board of fourteen-year-old messengers, win its approval and run sample
messages before she was accepted. The most exciting morning of her life was when she was
taken ashore in Morocco to buy her uniform - dark blue stretch pants and a blue tunic. 'I was thrilled
to death,' she said. 'It was what I had wanted from day one. LRH was my hero. We'd always had his
picture hanging on the wall at home and we listened to his tapes all the time. I was his greatest
fan.'
Hubbard so much enjoyed the company of his pretty young messengers that it inevitably put a
strain on his relationship with his wife and children. It was obvious to Mary Sue, as it was to
everyone on board, that the Commodore favoured his messengers above his own children, for
whom he seemed to have little time or consideration. Diana, the eldest, had inherited her father's
self-confidence and was least affected by his lack of regard. Then eighteen she was one of the
Commodore's staff Aides, who formed the senior management body directly under Hubbard. She
was engaged to another Sea Org officer and had a reputation on board for being cold and
authoritarian, although she was much admired by the messengers for her long auburn hair, her
beauty and her status; they called her 'Princess Diana'.
None of the children had had a proper education since leaving England in 1967. On the bridge,
Diana could handle the ship with brisk efficiency, but she read nothing more demanding than
romantic novels and in conversation she rivalled Mrs Malaprop. Her latest malapropisms were the
source of much secret merriment among her fellow officers.
Her brother, Quentin, was seventeen in January 1971 and was deeply unhappy. He was working as
an auditor, but all his life he had longed to be a pilot and frequently pleaded with his father to be
allowed to leave the ship to take flying lessons. Quiet and introverted, Quentin was furtively
described as 'swishy' because no one wanted to say out loud what everyone suspected - that he
was homosexual. Hubbard's loathing of homosexuals was well documented in his voluminous
writings and there was not a Scientologist alive who would risk suggesting to him that his son's
sexuality was in doubt.
Suzette and Arthur were less troubled by the sacrifice of their childhood. Suzette was fifteen, a
cheerful, uncomplicated teenager with a great sense of fun and none of her older sister's drive or
ambition. Moved from post to post around the ship, she performed tolerably well and displayed no
executive aspirations. All the children had to stand watch along with the rest of the crew and Suzette
could always be relied upon to be on duty on time. Not so her twelve-year-old brother, Arthur, who
often refused to get out of bed when he was supposed to be on night watch. If the watchkeeper
going off duty tried to rouse him, he would threaten to make a noise and wake his father. Anyone
who woke Hubbard was in serious trouble and it was often less troublesome to do Arthur's duty
than chance waking the slumbering Commodore.