Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

decided to return to the United States.
For the next six days, in glorious weather, the Apollo sailed due west across a glassy ocean,
followed by sporting dolphins and whales. On 16 October, she put into St George, on the northern
tip of Bermuda, to re-fuel and Hubbard announced to the crew that their next port of call would be
Charleston, South Carolina. There was an enormous cheer at this news: many of the crew were
US citizens and some of them had not been home for years.
Eight miles off Charleston, a coded radio message from the Guardian's Office warned the
Commodore that the FBI were waiting on the dock to meet the ship. Hubbard's instinct was to go
ashore and brazen it out; Mary Sue was terrified at the prospect and convinced that her husband
would be immediately arrested. A furious argument followed. 'Everyone could hear them screaming
at each other for about two hours,' said Hana Eltringham. 'She was adamant that we should not go
ashore. She said he would be indicted ten or fifteen times and it would be the end of him and she
wasn't going have it.'
For once, Mary Sue won. Hubbard called his senior aides together on the promenade deck and
said there was to be a change of plans. He was going send a signal to Charleston to say that the
ship was heading north to pick up spare parts in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Then they were going to sail
south, to the Caribbean.
The Apollo docked at Freeport in the Bahamas two days later, while FBI agents waited patiently in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. It did not take them long to find out what had happened, however, and the ship
was doggedly tracked as she meandered from island to island around the Caribbean for the next
twelve months. If no one in Washington could make out what L. Ron Hubbard was up to, it was
hardly surprising, because L. Ron Hubbard did not know himself.
It seemed the Commodore was simply enjoying a Caribbean respite while he decided on his next
move. He had a set of tropical uniforms made for himself in white silk and the messengers were
also kitted out in tight white uniforms, with mirrored sunglasses - an innovation suggested by the
Commodore which gave them an appropriately sinister appearance. At most ports of call, the
Apollo Stars trundled ashore to perform for apathetic audiences with nothing better to do than sit in
the sun at a free concert and wonder where the musicians had come from. The Commodore took
up photography again and attempted to ingratiate himself with local politicians by offering to take
their portraits. He photographed the Prime Minister and members of the opposition in Curaçao and
spent some time at a convent taking pictures of nuns. He was very pleased with the result and sent
a framed enlargement, and a cheque for $1000, to the convent to thank the nuns for their cooperation.
He could well afford it, as Kima Douglas knew better than anyone. 'While we were in the Bahamas,
a story came out that the Swiss were going to change the tax laws in some way that would affect
the money we held there. The old man went crazy. I heard him screaming and yelling and ran
upstairs to find what was wrong. He was pacing up and down and shouting at the top of his voice,
"Do you know what they're doing? Everything's gone. Gone! Gone! We're going to lose everything."'
When he had calmed down a little, Kima suggested that perhaps the money should be moved.
Three hours later, she was on a plane to Zurich, with two other Scientologists, carrying handwritten
instructions from Hubbard authorizing the transfer of all his assets to a bank in Liechtenstein.
When they arrived, they were taken down into the vault of the bank and shown the money. Kima
Douglas, who thought she could no longer be surprised by anything in Scientology, was awestruck.
'Everyone's eyes widened. There was a stack, about four feet high and three feet wide, of dollars,