Fhe flounder framed!

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was the child of Harry Ross Hubbard and Ledora May Waterbury. Harry Ross ('Hub') Hubbard was born Henry August Wilson and adopted Mr and Mrs James Hubbard after the death of his mother. May Waterbury was the child of Lafayette ('Lafe') O. Waterbury and Ida Corinne DeWolfe. Lafe was a small-town vetenerian who also ran a livery stable. She had wanted to have a career as a teacher, and had (with her parents' blessing) qualified as a high school and institute teacher. Harry Ross entered the navy when he was 18 in 1904 and served as a yeoman until he was posted to navy recruiting agency in Omaha in 1906. In April -09 they married, and Lafayette Ronald('Ron') was born on March 11th XXX 1911.

For long periods of his early childhood, little Ron lived near or with his grandfather's large family which doted on him. He was certainly spoiled, but also a very active and rewarding child, exceptionally imaginative and adventurous. Harry Ross enlisted in the US Navy in 1917, and May worked various clerical jobs. As Hub was intent on a career in the navy, May had to move to San Diego in 1921 when Hub was posted to the battleship USS Oklahoma, and a year later May and Ron moved on to Seattle.

There is no evidence that Ron had any close ties with the Blackfoot indians; indeed, evidence suggests that the Blackfoot indians didn't have the notion of "bloodbrother."

His father's career life was in some respects pre-echoing Ron's own. During his initial four years in the navy, Harry Ross had supplemented his income by writing 'romantic tales' of Navy life. Later, he had been obliged to appear before a court of inquiry in May, 1920, while serving as Supply Officer on the USS Aroostock, to explain a deficiency in his accounts of $942.28.

Lieutenant (junior grade), serves as commander of corvettes. Action in Atlantic and Pasific. distinguished himself in the eyes of those who served beneath him. Partially blind injured optic nerve, lame from hip and back injuries. Hospitalised at Oak Knoll

Hubbard ended the war on medical leave from various training institutions (at the Naval Training School, Princeton, followed by the Naval Civil Affairs Staging Area, California). He reported sick in April -45 and a possible ulcer was diagnosed. In September -45 he was re-admitted to Oak Knoll Hospital, supposedly suffering from a duodenal ulcer. Curiously enough, although Hubbard complained about a variety of ailments, no doctor could make a specific diagnosis. On Dec 5th -45 Hubbard left the navy; the day after, he filed application for a veteran's disability pension, claiming to suffer from a range of crippling defects.

Although he had stated in his pension application that he was without income and lived with his family in Washington State, he immediately set out for Pasadena, to meet the satanist John "Jack" Whiteside Parsons. Parsons headed a lodge of Aleister Crowley's "Ordo Templi Orientis" (a movement concerned with occultism and Sex Magick), and together with Hubbard he set about creating a "moonchild" - an antichrist.

After some very kinky and blasphemous experiments, Hubbard left together with Sara "Betty" Northrup - formerly Parsons' mistress - and some 10000$ of Parsons' money at the end of April -46. The money had come from the company 'Allied Enterprises' set up by the three (Parsons investing 20000$, Hubbard 1200$ and Sara nothing) with the plan of buying yachts on the east coast and sell them for a profit on the west coast. In July -46 the partnership was dissolved (Parsons having lost most of his money) after Hubbard and Sara had tried to escape in one of the yachts Hubbard had acquired. Hubbard hoped to cover his expenses by a large pension from the navy, expanding his previous claim by claiming that he was partially blinded.

Parsons was devastated by the behaviour of his friend and his mistress, and his death in -52 in an explosion accident at home was widely believed to be a suicide.

Hubbard claimed to be 100% disabled, that he had been forced to abandon his old profession of 'ship-master and explorer.' He claimed that his ulcer had multiplied, that he suffered from a 'chronic and incapacitating bone infection' and that his partial blindness prevented him from reading more than three or four minutes.

Sara Northrup wrote as a friend of many years (a lie) and lamented the decline in his health.

Before the war, he was an extremely energetic person in excellent health and spirits . . . Since his return in December last year he is entirely changed. He cannot read because of his eyes, which give him much pain. He is rather lame and cannot take his accustomed hikes . . . He has tried to work at three different jobs and each he has had to leave because of an increase in his stomach condition. He seems to need an enormous amount of rest... I do not know what he is going to do for income when his own meagre savings are exhausted, because I see no chance of his condition improving to a point where he can regain his old standards. He is becoming steadily worse, his health impaired again by economic worries . . .

Having solved his cash problem momentarily (by selling the yacht he and Sara had taken with them from the wrech of 'Allied Enterprises'), Hubbard moved to Washingtong DC together with his mistress. On August 10th -46, Hubbard married Sara Northrup although he was not divorced from Polly... He moved all over the US in the following years.

Polly Hubbard finally sued for divorce on grounds of dessertation and non-support (she did not at the time know about Hubbard's bigamous marriage). Hubbard agreed to the divorce on June 1st -47, after having stayed for some time together with Sara in the town where his family lived.

To his new literary agent Forrest Ackerman, Hubbard relates the tale of how he wrote 'Excalibur' after a near-death experience on an operating table. Despite a strong desire from Ackerman to try to sell this manuscript, Hubbard declined. The rest of Hubbard's writings were not bringing in nearly enough money, so he enrolled in a college (having learned that a veteran pension would increase if one did so - he dropped out soon after), and intensified his pleads with the veteran administration. He went to the point of describing himself in need of psychiatric treatment, suffering from suicidal inclinations. Despite another medical examination by navy doctors not finding anything seriously wrong with him (not even the ulcer..), Hubbard achieved a 40% disability rating, and an increased pension from the navy.

Although Hubbard wrote an astonishing amount of his regular pulp magazone fiction, he found time to work on a book on a 'new science of the mind' to be called either The Dark Sword or Excalibur or Science of the Mind. In a letter to his agent, Hubbard cracked jokes about the movement he was going to found, suggesting that a good publicity angle would be to have people sign a release absolving the author of any responsibility if they went crazy. In spring/summer of -49, Hubbard addressed a science fiction group in Newark and told them

Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be to start his own religion.

In the April -50 issue of 'Astounding', the editor John Campbell wrote of the upcoming book about Dianetics. Campbell was a very enthusiastic devotee of Hubbard's techniques, having himself been hypnotised and after a few sessions regained memory of his birth. Campbell had contacted Dr Joseph Winter who became interested in the ideas expressed by Hubbard. Dr Winter visited Hubbard in Oct -49 and was impressed with what he saw and the results he observed. Having himself cured his son of a fear of the dark by applying Dianetics "running", Dr Winter prepared a manuscript for publication in a serious medical journal (a project much berated by Hubbard). Both Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Psychiatry rejected the paper on grounds of lack of clinical evidence.

Although the article for 'Astrounding' was completed shortly before christmass -49, Campbell delayed publication until the book - published by Hermitage House - came out, enabling the article to be used to have maximal promotional value. Despite misgivings about the extravagant nature of Hubbbard's claims, Dr Winter wrote a glowing foreword to the article - boosting the credibility of the ideas expressed in 'Dianetics, the modern science of mental health.' The wording of Hubbard's article was remarkably restrained (compared to the actual book), taking up more than 40 pages with a fairly sombre textbook like style.

The amount of interest stimulated by Campbell's editorial caused the creation of the 'Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation' in Elisabeth New Jersey. Sara Hubbard did not like the idea of moving there with their newborn baby - Alexis - and Campbell's marriage ended as his wife cited Dianetics as 'the last straw.'

Concerned with "engrams" - memories of painful incidents stored in the "reactive mind" (subconscious to Freudians...) - 'Dianetics' is long, rambling, and avoids actual clinical evidence like the plague. In spite of his best efforts, some of Hubbard's prejudices crept through. He went on at some length about "attempted abortions"

A large proportion of allegedly feeble-minded children are actually attempted abortion cases. However many billions America spends yearly on institutions for the insane and jails for the crinxinals are spent primarily because of attempted abortions done by some sex-blocked mother to whom children are a curse, not a blessing of God ... All these things are scientific facts, tested and rechecked and tested again.

'Dianetics' cought on like a wildfire. It promised superhuman powers from a simply applied process - 'auditing' - which is almost but not entirely unlike hypnosis. Seemingly everyone who tried it could find some sort of 'engram' to 'audit out,' and if engrams were real, the promised superpowers must be real too. Only two months after the publication, Newsweek reported that more than fifty-five thousand copies had been sold and five hundred Dianetics groups had been set up across the United States.

Hubbard wasted no time in setting up a training course for Dianetics auditors. At 500$ is was hugely expensive, but demand was enourmous. A student describes Hubbard's lecturing

The man had tremendous charisma; you just wanted to hear every word he had to say and listen for any pearl of wisdom. We never discussed where he had got all his knowledge. To me, the source of his data was irrelevant. I'd been in college studying recent discoveries in psychology and they were not worth a damn compared to what he had come up with and what it would do.

Hubbard went to Los Angeles in August 1950 to a hero's welcome. He was to lecture at the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation of California, he was wanted for interviews and signings, but first of all, he was in town for the first public demonstration of the mindboggling powers promised by Dianetics. On August 10th in the Shrine Auditorium (the largest in town) a crowd massed for the 6500 seats. After a succesful auditing of a woman of Hubbard's choice and the failed auditing of a member of the audience, Hubbard introduced his star: Sonya Bianca, a physics major and pianist from Boston. Among other astonishing powers, she had 'full and perfect recall of every moment of her life,' which she would be happy to demonstrate. She was somewhat nervous, however, and Hubbard made the mistake of requesting questions from the audience. Being unable to remember what she'd had for breakfast on a specific day or what was on a specific page of 'Dianetics,' she quickly approached a breakdown. Someone decided to ask an easy question: What was the colour of Hubbard's necktie? She couldn't answer...

Not surprisingly, this was the last public demonstration of the amazing powers of the "clear."

In -50, the Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation took vast amount of money. They also spent equally vast amounts, without letting petty details like accounting and planning get in the way. A few days after the Shrine meeting, the Foundation was able to afford the downpayment on their new LA headquarter (value: 4.5 million $). Hubbard lectured seven days a week at the foundation, keeping up an affair with a pretty 20-year old psychology major, Barbara Kaye (not her real name). In no time he had her installed in a little love-nest apartment, from which she was promptly chucked out whe Hubbard's wife arrived in town... Barbara was deeply in love, but certainly had some reservations

.. I recognized early on that he was also deeply disturbed. Some of the things he told me were really bizarre, but I never knew what to believe. He said his mother was a lesbian and that he had found her in bed with anotber woman and that he had been born as the result of an attempted abortion.

In October -50, Hubbard returned to the east coast, and was greeted by the news that the foundation was falling apart financially and that Dr Winter was about to resign from the board of the foundation. Dr Winter was disillusioned with Dianetics - having observed two pre-clears developing acute psychosis - and strongly disapproving of the policy of accepting anyone as an auditor. He was frustrated by the fact that the Research Foundation was making absolutely no attempt to conduct any serious scientific research, which was one of its avowed aims. Another board member, Art Ceppos, resigned at the same time, provoking Hubbard into an immoderate rage. Hubbard sent of a letter to the FBI accusing Art Ceppos of communist sympathies - a serious charge indeed in 50's America...

The sci-fi writer A.E. van Vogt who ran the LA foundation, calculated that by early Nov -50, the six foundations had spent more than 1 million $ and were 200000$ in debt. Attempts to recover finnacially were sabotaged by Hubbard who was occupied by, among other things, 'GUK' - a mix of benzedrine, vitamins and glutamic acid which was claimed to facilitate auditing. Negative media attention was beginning to have an effect, and in Jan -51, the New Jersey Board of Mecdical Examiners instituted proceedings against the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in Elizabeth, accusing it of teaching medicine without a licence. Realising the gravety of the situation in New Jersey, Hubbard had two instructors load all his possesions in a car and drive it to LA.

Faced with mounting domestic problem - Sara had started an affair with a young Dianetics instructor - Hubbard resolved to have her committed before she could have him committed... Part of the plan was to kidnap his eleven moth old child Alexis who was living with Sara in LA while Hubbard was living with Barbara in Palm Springs. Having snatched the child from its babysitter, Hubbard left her in care of an LA nursing agency. Sara's lover safely out of the way (on his way to Palm Springs where they believed the child had been taken), Hubbard together with Richard de Mille (son of the director) and Frank Dressler took Sara and set out in the middle of the night to find a doctor who would declare her insane. Having failed to find a doctor, the following morning Hubbard let his wife have the car in Yuma, Arizona, and she drove back - still in her nightgown - believing that she carried a piece of paper which would direct her to her lost child. Although she had given him a written statement that she had gone with him of her own will - in return for access to her child - Hubbard arranged for Frank Dressler to collect the child and have her driven to New Jersey. Hubbard's luck held when Sara reported the incident to the police - they wrote it off as a domestic incident.

Acquiring a clean bill of health from a psychiatrist in Chicago, Hubbard barely paused to report Sara's lover to the FBI as a communist before going to New Jersey to wait for Alexis. While in Elizabeth NJ, Hubbard's first wife filed suit in Port Orchard, Washington, for maintenance. Hubbard responded by claiming that his first wife was not a fit and proper person to have control of the children because she 'drinks to excess and is a dipsomaniac.' He also found time to report Sara Northrup (Hubbard) to the FBI as a communist. An FBI agent interviewing Hubbard on occasion of all the claims concluded that Hubbard was a 'mental case.' Having alienated John Campbell who resigned, Hubbard left New Jersey for Tampa, Florida, to go on to Havana, Cuba, in April of -51.

As the story of the baby's kidnapping broke in the US - Sara having finally filed a suit - Hubbard returned to the US in May -51. Sara was claiming an astonishing range of beatings, torture and attempted murder. Polly Hubbard fully supported the charges

You must get Alexis in your custody. Ron is not normal. I had hoped you could straighten him out. Your charges probably sound fantastic to the average person, but I've been through it - the beatings, threats on my life, all the sadistic traits which you charge - 12 years of it.

Don Purcell, a millionaire real-estate dealer in Wichita, Kansas, bankrolled a new foundation in Wichita. This went on between May -51 and the end of Feb -52 where Don Purcell as president of the Hubbard Dianetic Foundation of Wichita filed for voluntary bankrupcy. The final accounts revealed an income of $142,000 and expenditure of $205,000. Hubbard had received fees amounting to nearly $22,000 while salaries for all the remaining staff only accounted for $54,000.

Just before leaving Wichita, Hubbard married the 19-year old Mary Sue Whipp, who was to become his second in command before being found out and jailed...

At the time where Dianetics was the subject of a fierce court battle, Hubbard introduced at a conference in April -52 two things: the e-meter (invented by the Dianeticist Volney Mathison) and the next doctrine he was to sell to the world: Scientology. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and set up the "Hubbard Association of Scientologists" - HASI. In the first book published after the start of Scientology - "What to Audit" aka "The History of Man" - Hubbard claimed that using the knowledge gained through Scientology 'the blind again see, the lame walk, the ill recover, the insane become sane and the sane become saner.' The -65 inquiry in State of Victoria, Australia, notes that 'For compressed nonsense and fantasy it must surpass anything theretofore written.' Among gems which always delight critics are the story how humans had evolutionary roots in the clam and how the Piltdown man liked to eat his wives...

Hubbard spent -53 fighting Don Purcell and spreading Scientology in the US and in Europe. He acquired a PhD from Sequoia University in Los Angeles (a shop which churned out diplomas for money - later closed by the authorities) and started forming plans for turning Scientology into a religion, opening "Spiritual Guidance Centers." In December 1953, he incorporated three new churches - the Church of American Science, the Church of Scientology and the Church of Spiritual Engineering - in Camden, New Jersey. On 18 February 1954, the Church of Scientology of California was incorporated. He encouraged Scientology franchise holders to set up independent churces - still operating under control of HASI (of course). Outfits operating outside the control of the "church" was to be treated with extreme hostility, e.g. as outlined in HCOTB, Vol. II, 1955 describing the infamous use of litigation as a weapon

The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway, well knowing that he is not authorized, will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease ... If possible, of course, ruin him utterly.

In late -55 Hubbard moved to London to oversee Scientology from the headquarters of HASI. Hubbard's income from Scientology in the fiscal year ending June -56 was $102,604 (mainly from royalties on the more than 60 books on Scientology, from sales of e-meters and training manuals; his "salary" from the "church" was only $125 a week). Later, from March -57, Hubbard switched from "salary" to a percentage of the gross takings of the "church" - before the end of the fifties he was making more than $250000 a year.

In -57 the book "All About Radiation" appeared, co-authored by 'a nuclear physicist' (indicated as being Hubbard) and 'a medical doctor' (unknown...). The physics were out to lunch, Hubbard asserting - among other things - that a sixteen-foot wall could not stop a gamma ray whereas a human body could. The medicine was equally creative - Hubbard had found a vitamin compound which solved radiation sickness

Dianazene runs out radiation - or what appears to be radiation. It also proofs a person against radiation to some degree. It also turns on and runs out incipient cancer. I have seen it run out skin cancer. A man who didn't have much liability to skin cancer (only had a few moles) took Dianazene. His whole jaw turned into a raw mass of cancer. He kept on taking Dianazene and it disappeared after a while. I was looking at a case of cancer that might have happened.

After a lengthy stay back in Washington DC Hubbard returned to England in Oct -58. He gave a 'Advanced Clinical Course' which delved heavily into past lives, with Hubbard leading to way, recounting past lives espisodes which sounded like "Flash Gordon" episodes - zapp guns, flying saucers, repeller beams and things like that... According to Cyril Vosper, many people found themselves having very illustruous past lives:

Students knew that unless they could bring forth a past life with full recall, pain, emotion, full perception, the lot, they would be regarded as something less than real Scientologists. There was a good deal of rivalry as to who could dig up the most notable or extraordinary past life. Jesus of Nazareth was very popular. At least three London Scientologists claimed to have uncovered incidents in which they were crucified and rose from the dead to save the world. Queen Elizabeth I, Walter Raleigh and the venerable Bede were also popular. Funnily enough, I never met anyone who claimed to know anything about Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan or Pontius Pilate.

In the spring of -59, Hubbard bought Saint Hill Manor outside East Grinstead, close to London. He moved his operations there, and developed new interests; in an article from the Grinstead Courier, it was stated that

The production of plant mutations is one of his most important projects at the moment. By battering seeds with X-rays, Dr Hubbard can either reduce a plant through its stages of evolution or advance it.

During as visit to Australia in Nov -59, Hubbard learned that his son Nibs - who had been highly placed in the "church" had quit. The reason was simply that Nibs could spend like his father, but was unable to rake in money at a sufficient rate. In his resignation letter he states

Over the past few years, I have found it increasingly difficult to maintain basic financial survival for myself and my family. This I must remedy. I fully realize that I have not handled my financial affairs in the most optimum manner. But for six years I have managed to provide, at least the basic necessities, in some manner. In doing so I have depleted all my reserves and have become deeply in debt...

Hubbard and family were settled confortably at Saint Hill - probably untroubled by the resistance of their domestic staff to 'security checks' (being interrogated while being measured on the e-meter). Hubbard took some interest in politics, instructing "church" staff to do every thing possibnle to prevent R Nixon from getting elected. In June -60 he released a 'Special Zone Plan - The Scientologists Role in Life.' Influence in politics should be excerted without going to the trouble of actually gettin elected

Don't bother to get elected, Get a job on the secretarial staff or the bodyguard.

If attacked on some vulnerable point by anyone or anything or any organization, always find or manufacture enough threat against them to cause them to sue for peace . . . Don't ever defend, always attack. Don't ever do nothing. Unexpected attacks in the rear of the enemy's front ranks work best .

In -63 Hubbard produced no books (one of the few years where this occurred). He did, however, produce some very strange bulletins, including descriptions of his two visits to heaven - 43 and 42 trillion years ago... In a HCO Bulleting of 11th of May 13 AD (After Dianetics, that is) he described the first visit which took place "43,891,832,611,177 years, 344 days, 10 hours, 20 minutes and 40 seconds from 10.02pm Daylight Greenwich Mean Time 9 May 1963." Apparently, everyone has been to "heaven" - twice - and been "implanted" (had false memories stored in the "reactive mind"). There are descriptions of the surroundings of the gate to heaven and the various implants received. In case anyone gets the idea that Hubbard is making all of this up, the HCOB ends with the following assertation:

This HCO Bulletin is based on over a thousand hours of research auditing, analyzing the facsimiles of the reactive mind, and with the help of a Mark V Electrometer. It is scientific research and is not in any way based upon the mere opinion of the researcher. This HCO Bulletin is not the result of the belief or beliefs of anyone. Scientology data reflects long, arduous and painstaking research over a period of some thirty years into the nature of Man, the mind, the human spirit and its relationship to the physical universe.

In early -65, "ethics" became more formalised and an increasingly important part of the day-to-day existence of Scientologists. On the merest suspicion XXX of disloyalty, rule-breaking or plain slacking, a member would be reported to the "ethics officer" and a "condition" assigned. This system strove to ensure a state of complete subserviance to whatever Hubbard's policies of the day were - or merely his slightest whims (his cook/butler/housekeeper was assigned a condition of "treason" for serving not-quite-fresh salmon to Hubbard). The not universally appreciated Mary Sue Hubbard was thought to be behind some of the more aggressive/degrading aspects of the punishments devised (a person could be socially isolated if in a "low" condition). While Hubbard tried to keep his followers in firm control, the Australian Board of Inquiry into Scientology thought it well that scientology itself should be controlled. The first paragraph of their report has become an anti-co$ classic

There are some features of Scientology which are so ludicrous that there may be a tendency to regard Scientology as silly and its practitioners as harmless cranks. To do so would be gravely to misunderstand the tenor of the Board's conclusions. This Report should be read, it is submitted, with these prefatory observations constantly in mind. Scientology is evil; its techniques evil; its practice a serious threat to the community, medically, morally and socially; and its adherents sadly deluded and often mentally ill.

Only a society founded by criminals, organized by criminals and devoted to making people criminals, could come to such a conclusion...

Hubbard set out to find another country which would be safe for scientology (having given up on his earlier plans to make "Australia the world's first clear continent"), and went to Rhodesia. (Hubbard believed himself to be a reincarnation of Cecil Rhodes - although he didn't knew that Rhodes had been homosexual.) Describing himself as a 'millionaire-financier' (and distancing himself from the running of scientology), his endeavours included a model constitution which included rules for a two-house parliament; the voting for the upper - more powerful - house should be restricted to qualified citizens with a good standard of English, knowledge of the constitution and financial standing verified by a bank. Somehow, this didn't go down too well with anyone in particular, certainly not with the blacks. Hubbard didn't consider the blacks too highly in any case, telling John McMasters

Blacks were so stupid, that they do not give a reading on an E-meter.

Back in England, he found the general atmosphere to be somewhat hostile. The minister of Health responded to a request for an inquery into scientology with

I do not think any further inquiry is necessary to establish that the activities of this organization are potentially harmful. I have no doubt that Scientology is totally valueless in promoting health . . .

Two boats were bought and sent off to the mediterranean. The smallest (the Enchanter) was to be commanded by Virginia Downsborough whose qualifications (apart from being a schoolteacher) consisted of coming from a sailing family and knowing how to tie knots. When Downsborough found Hubbard in Las Palmas, he was in a sorry state:

When I went in to his room there were drugs of all kinds everywhere. He seemed to be taking about sixty thousand different pills. I was appalled, particularly after listening to all his tirades against drugs and the medical profession. There was something very wrong with him, but I didn't know what it was except that he was in a state of deep depression; he told me he didn't have any more gains and he wanted to die. That's what he said: "I want to die."

The bigger of the two vessels bought initially, the Avon River arrived at Las Palmas and was refitted by Sea Org members working around the clock. As she was re-launched, it was discovered that no means had been made to restrain her, so she drifted helplessly about in the hardbour until a boat could push her back to the mooring. As this was being carried out, the Enchanter arrived under tow (having broken down at sea). The third and largest boat, the 3280 tons Royal Scotsman had been delayed in leaving England. The authorities had ordered a detention order to prevent the boat from leaving until safety inspections had been carried out (the scientologists having first tried to re-register her as a pleasure yacht and a few days after that as a whaler).

Hubbard reacted by flying to England and travel to Southampton where the Royal Scotsman was berthed. He had loads of materials, his wife and children and hordes of scientologists (having signed million-years contracts to work for the Sea Org). Even in harbour, the scientologists could not keep the ship out of trouble - the ship's rubbing strake caught on te edge of the dock at the tide ebbed, and the ship was fixed on the dock until the strake broke off. Under a hastily acquired Sierra Leonese registration, the Royal Scotman (the second 's' having been missed on the new registration) left Southampton, defiantly banging into the fenders of the harbour as she sailed off for her first journey as the Sea Org headquarters.

In the early months of -68, Hubbard set out on the Avon River on an exciting expedition. He was going to recover some of the treasures he had hidden in previous lifetime. Having identified a few locations, but never discovered any of the burried treasures, the ship had to head back for Valencia where a dispute had broken out between the harbour management and the scientologists in charge of the repair of the Royal Scotman. It was a pity they had to head back early, since they had been scheduled to continue to Corsica where a secret space station was supposed to hold a "mother ship."

Having been forced to leave Valencia early, the Royal Scotman was put on an "ethics condition" of "liability" which required the entire crew to wear a grey rag on their left arm, eat poorly, not wash or change their clothes and work unreasonable hours. The ship itself was also assigned this condition, and sported a grey band around her funnel. Ehtics conditions was only one form of punishment metered out in the Sea Org, the practice of "overboarding" was also employed (if a person had made some serious fault, they would be thrown off the ship).

The least transgression, real or imagined, would be swiftly punished. David Mayo described the mood thus:

It was not really possible to question what was going on, because you were never sure who you could really trust. To question anything Hubbard did or said was an offense and you never knew if you would be reported. Most of the crew were afraid that if they expressed any disagreement with what was going on they would be kicked out of Scientology. That was something absolutely untenable to most people, something you never wanted to consider. That was much more terrifying than anything that might happen to you in the Sea Org.

We tried not to think too hard about his behaviour. It was not rational much of the time, but to even consider such a thing was a discreditable thought and you couldn't allow yourself to have a discreditable thought. One of the questions in a sec-check was, "Have you ever had any unkind thoughts about LRH?" and you could get into very serious trouble if you had. So you tried hard not to.

The British government decided on July 25th -68 that scientologist students were undesired in the UK and Hubbard was an 'undesirable alien.' Kennet Robinson, Health minister, stated

The Government is satisfied, having reviewed all the available evidence, that Scientology is socially harmful. It alienates members of families from each other and attributes squalid and disgraceful motives to all who oppose it. Its authoritarian principles and practices are a potential menace to the personality and well-being of those so deluded as to become its followers; above all, its methods can be a serious danger to the health of those who submit to them.

In the harbour of Corfu, Hubbard intended to stay for a while, and even gave an interview to the Corfu paper Ephemeris ton Idisseon, where he expressed a very positive opinion of the consitution of the military junta which had recently taken over Greece

Q. I have been told, Mr Hubbard, that you have read the whole of the new Greek Constitution from beginning to end. If that's true, what do you think of it?

A. Yes, I've read it with much interest. The rights of man have been given great care in it. I have studied many constitutions, from the times of unwritten laws which various tribes have followed, and the present constitution represents the most brilliant tradition of Greek democracy. Out of all the modern constitutions the new Greek Constitution is the best . . .'

As students arrived for the highest course available in sciontology, to become a clas VIII auditor, they found the conditions harsh, the hours excessive and the overboardings daily. Diana Hubbard (who, of Hubbard's children, took the most interest in scientology) soon started ordering overboardings on her own. At least the workers in the Corfu harbour found it very entertaining. As much a Hubbard liked it in Corfu, he was thrown out in March -69 (the Greek government having made inquiries with the UK and Australian governments).

From Corfu, Hubbard headed out of the Mediterranean, and the Apollo spent the next three years sailing the seas west of the Mediterrenean. Hubbard was keeping on the move, because of his fears of hostile agencies which were after him. The "Guadian's Office" was created with Mary Sue in charge as the church intelligence organisation. Among other bodies, the organisation 'Smersh' (from the James Bond novels) figured as targets of the Guardian Office's activities, with the stated goal being (from Flag Order no. 1890, 26 March 1969)

To invade the territory of Smersh, run it better, make tons of money in it, to purify the mental health field.

Although the atmosphere aboard the Apollo eased somewhat after it left the Mediterrenean, life was still full of tension. The scientologists were constantly impressed with the need for secrecy and the idea that the rest of the world was conspiring to harm scientology. A new origanisation started, the Commodore's Messenger Organisation (CMO) which consisted only of children of scientologists, mainly girls in their early teens. These messengers were charged with delivering verbal messages to/from Hubbard and excerted absolute authority on everone else, including Mary Sue and the children.

One infamous episode on the Apollo occurred when a young woman, Susan Meister, died. She had been a dedicated scientologist joining the Apollo in February -71 and had given her family no reason to believe her to be less than happy. On the morning of June 26th -71, she was found dead from a shot to the head with a gun lying on her chest and a suicide note on the floor. Immediately, the Sea Org claimed that she had been a former drug addict, had attempted suicide on previous occasions and that compromising photographs of her had been found. The American vice-council in Casablance met with Sea Org representatives who made affidavits that he had threatened to sink the ship if it became an embarassment to the US.

Susan Meister's father arrived a few days later and tried to get information about his daughter. He found the Marrocan authorities busy, and official papers impossible to find. He was shown photographs of his dead daugther and noted that it seemed implausible that she had shot herself with a long-barelled target revolver, as there were no powder burns near the wound. He had been shown a room near the stern which was claimed to have been his daughter's sleeping place, which didn't correspond to her descriptions in letters home that she was sharing a room near the front of the ship. The truth is still not known; one source states that Susan Meister had a loud argument with Hubbard shortly before her death, but this is dismissed by other sources.

One of the senior 'technical' people on the Apollo, Otto Roos acquired with his autorisation Hubbard's auditing folders (a stack eight feets high), during the attempted treatment of a serious undiagnosed illness of Hubbard's in early -72. Roos discovered several "discreditable reads" (indications that the subject is lying). Although it's a central rule that the subject of auditing may never see his auditing folders, Hubbard had two big Sea Org members grab the folders from Roos. Two days later, Hubbard called Roos up, beat on Roos and had him put under cabin arrest. Mary Sue tried to convince Roos that the "discreditable reads" had been caused by outdated equipment.

With the Apollo in dock for a re-fitting, Hubbard was unable to take to the sea when he learned that there was a very real risk that he might be extradited to France where the COS was being tried for fraud. In December -72, he left first Tangier, going to Lisbon, and then Lisbon, taking a flight to Chicago with one bodyguard, two other scientologists and a suitcase stuffed with roughly 100000$ in cash. Hubbard checked into a hotel under an assumed name, and spent the christmass in hiding, with the television on during his waking hours.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, Hubbard was able to discover that various government agencies had volumnious files on him - most containing unflattering material. He decided that the simplest appropriate course of action was to infiltrate these agencies and steal the documents and/or replacing them with flattering ones. This operation was code-named Snow White. On deciding in September -73 that the risk of extradition was reduced, Hubbard returned to the Apollo.

The Apollo was at port in Tenerife in early December -73, when Hubbard had a bad crash on his Harley Davidson. Having sent his previously trusted medical adviser, Jim Dincalci who had been with him in New York, to a lower ethics condition (for trying to give Hubbard one instead of two painkillers; Dincalci believed that a spiritually superior being like Hubbard shouldn't need any), he took Kima Douglas on as his nurse. She found that probably had broken an arm and two ribs. She found him extremely difficult as a patient

He must have been in agony. He screamed and hollered and yelled. It was absolutely ungodly; six weeks of pure hell. He was revolting to be with - a sick, crotchety, pissed-off old man, extremely antagonistic to everything and everyone. His wife was often in tears and he'd scream at her at the top of his lungs, "Get out of here!" Nothing was right. He'd throw his food across the room with his good arm; I'd often see plates splat against the bulkhead. When things got really bad, I'd go and make him English scrambled eggs, well salted and peppered, and toast and butter and take it up to him. I even fed him once.

He didn't get out of that red velvet chair for three months, He'd sleep for about forty-five minutes at a time, then be awake for hours, screaming and shouting. It was impossible to get him comfortable. None of us got any sleep. I was better with a cushion, someone else was better with a footstool, someone else with cotton padding, so every time he woke up we all had to be in there, fussing around him while he was screaming at us that we were all "stupid fucking shitheads" . . . he was out of control and even the toughies were in tears at times.

The messengers took on a steadily greater importance, being with Hubbard during all this waking moments. All looking like high school cheerleaders, blonde, with perfect teeth and red lips, they wore a uniform of their own design (knotted halter tops, bare midriffs, tight hot pants, bobbysox and platform-soled sandals). Hubbard said to Doreen Smith where he had picked up the idea of having a group of children as his elite group

He said it was an idea he had picked up from Nazi Germany. He said Hitler was a madman, but nevertheless a genius in his own right and the Nazi Youth was one of the smartest ideas he ever had. With young people you had a blank slate and you could write anything you wanted on it and it would be your writing. That was his idea, to take young people and mould them into little Hubbards. He said he had girls because women were more loyal than men.

Hubbard left the seas west of the Mediterrenean in October -74 after a particularly bad stay in Madeira. The local youths had become convinced that the Apollo - always shrouded in mystery - was on a mission for the CIA and rioted at the quayside. He made for the West Indies where he spent the next twelve months seemingly cruising around aimlessly. As in Europe, the ship aroused some suspicion, and the scientologist formed the opinion that a conspiracy was afoot. The Captain, Bill Robertson, explained that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was 'one of the top SMERSH guys', had been bringing pressure to bear and threatening to cut foreign aid to any island that welcomed the Apollo. After having a minor stroke, Hubbard decided to leave the seas.

In the fall of -75, the Sea org moved to an old hotel in Florida. Hubbard stayed down the road from them, and visited often in his gold Cadillac. In October, a company called the "Southern Land Sales and Development Corporation" (so secretive that they didn't even admit to having a 'phone number) bought the old Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater for 2.3 million $ in cash. At the end of January -76, the church of scientology publicly announced that they were the new owners of the two building. The 'Reverend' Arthur J Maren assured the towns-people that

Scientologists are people who don't drink or violate laws... They are friendly and want to contribute.

Hubbard fled his temporary accomodations in a hotel (after having revealed his identity to a sci-fi fan), and drove towards New York in a newly acquired car. Kima Douglas recalls the trip

We were on the road for three or four days. It was a horrendous trip. He sat in the back smoking cigarettes like mad and every time he saw a police car he'd scream, "There they are, they're after us!" We had to keep turning off the highways and freeways, stopping continually, to avoid police cars. We went through some real hokey places. One time he got out of the car and started beating the roof with frustration. I said to him very quietly, "Get back in the car, sir. Everything's all right ."

A ranch outside La Quinta (close to Palm Springs) - the Olive Tree Ranch was bought and in October -76 Hubbard moved in with (parts of) his family, and his court of messengers and assorted aides. On November 12th, Hubbard's son Quintin died in Las Vegas, presumably a suicide. The local representative of te Guadian's Office in Las Vegas, Ed Walters, had the medical files stolen and remembers about Quentin

I knew he had homosexual problems, but he was a good kid. He was just a young, soft boy, not the ruthless, hard-nosed type. He had wanted to get out of Scientology for some time, but you don't just leave something like Scientology. You quit and then instantly become an enemy. He knew his father violently attacked anyone who betrayed him and he knew that the Guardian's Office would be after him as a traitor. He had grown up in Scientology and would have been tremendously afraid of the world out there, full of wogs and evil people. I guess he just couldn't handle it.

Hubbard seemed much less happy in the time after his son's death, and matters didn't improve when operation Snow White was discovered by the FBI. Hubbard fled from La Quinta and disassociated himself from his wife. After a period in hiding, he came back to Palm Springs to head the "cine org" which has as purpose the production of scientology propaganda/training films. Hubbard was in charge of everything and blamed everyone else when some thing went wrong (which always happened). Gerry Armstrong, in charge of set building, describes typical working days on the film set

It was all hokey, worse than high school. When we were shooting films he was the most abusive I have ever seen him, screaming and yeiling all the time. People were running around terrified. He'd cover up his own incompetence by attacking everyone else. The guy had poor eyesight and he was running the cameras, so the shots were often out of focus and he'd scream at the cameraman, "You can't frame a shot!" Or he'd hear a hum on the microphone and start yelling, "Sound! Sound! You fucking idiots! Get off the set!"

Hubbard collapsed on the film set while shooting on a very hot day. David Mayo, the most senior technical person in scientology, was dispatched i secrecy to audit out Hubbard's problems. He found that Hubbard would consistently contradict the official version of his life

He revealed things about himself and his past which absolutely contradicted what we had been told about him. He wasn't taking any great risk because I was a loyal and trusted subject and had a duty to keep such things confidential.

It wasn't just what I discovered about his past. I didn't care where he was born or what he had done in the war, it didn't mean a thing to me. I wasn't a loyal Scientologist because he had an illustrious war record. What worried me was when I saw things he did and heard statements he made that showed his intentions were different from what they appeared to be. When I was with him messengers often arrived with suitcases full of money, wads of hundred-dollar bills. Yet he had always said and written that he had never received a penny from Scientology. He would ask to see it, the messenger would open the case and he'd gloat over it for a bit before it was put away in a safe in his bedroom. He didn't really spend much, so I guess it was getaway money. I didn't mind the idea of him having money or being rich. I thought he had done tremendous wonders and should be well paid for it. But why did have to lie about it?

At the end of February -80, Hubbard disappeared completely, succeeding in staying out hidden from the numerous legal agencies that wanted him. He only took two messengers, Pat and Annie Broeker, with him. Pat Broeker, together with a particular ruthless messenger, David Miscaviage, set about restructuring scientology, in order for Hubbard to appear unconnected to it. Although Hubbard was out of sight, he remained in touch through letters. David Mayo received some very strange writings

In the first paragraph of one letter he said something like, "You might think I've gone crazy, but I'm still OK, just believe what I say is true." I remember thinking, God, whatever's coming must be pretty weird. It was real demented stuff, berating psychiatrists and claiming they were the root of all evil, not just on this planet but since time immemorial. He had it figured out that back in the beginning of the universe, psychiatrists created evil on a particular star system. When I read it I thought my God, he is crazy! He can exhort me not to think he's crazy, but this letter belies it.

Miscaviage removed Mary Sue from her position of power, and the church announced her resignation in Sept -81. She was eventually jailed for her part in controling operation Snow White.

While Hubbard had time to write an 800-page sci-fi book 'Battlefield Earth,' his son Nibs sued for control of Hubbard's and of scientology, claiming that Hubbard was either dead or mentally incompetent. Nibs had badly underestimated the worth of scientology (he estimated the value to be 100 million $, while Hubbard had probably made at least 40 million $ in -82 alone), and the case came to an end when the church laywers produced a handwritten statement by Hubbard.

Gerry Armstrong who had been appointed Hubbard's official biographer - and therefore given complete access to massses of material previously not known to exist - had decided to leave and to take the materials with him. At a trial to decide whether or not to continue sealing the documents, the judge gad this to say about scientology and Hubbard:

The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder. The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence additionally reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile.

At the same time it appears that he is charismatic and highly capable of motivating, organizing, controlling, manipulating and inspiring his adherents. He has been referred to during the trial as a "genius", a "revered person", a man who was "viewed by his followers in awe". Obviously, he is and has been a very complex person and that complexity is further reflected in his alter ego, the Church of Scientology... He has, of course, chosen to go into seclusion. but... seclusion has its light and dark side too. It adds to his mystique, and yet shields him from accountability and subpoena or service of summons.

In the summer of -83, Hubbard and the Broekers moved into a ranch in Creston, near San Luis Obispo in California. Large and expensive alterations to the ranch were carried out, including re-modelling of the ranch-house (done three times), the widening of the lake and the builfing of miles of white picket fence (one section was re-built several times to make sure it was perfectly straight). Thoroughbred horses, buffalo and llamas grazed in the fenced paddocks, and swans and geese graced the lake. Although his neighbour had been a part of the sci-fi publishing scene in New York in the fifties, he didn't recognise the old man living on the ranch.

Hubbard died on the evening of January 24th of -86, the cause according to the death-certificate was cerebral haemorrhage. Hubbard was cremated after an examination by an independent pathologist, and his ashes shattered over the Pacific on the 26th of January.