In the autumn of 1932, a twenty- one-year-old L. Ron Hubbard set sail for the Caribbean on behalf of his father and a syndicate of fellow officers with dreams of securing precious mineral rights, particularly gold. Remembered today as the Puerto Rican Mineralogical Expedition, the venture would culminate in that island’s first complete mineralogical survey under United States protectorship. Judging from letters to family and friends, however, there were definitely other tales to be told from Puerto Rico — intense, personal and clearly touching upon questions for later exploration. To begin with, we find his summary notes from the USS Kittery, a none too luxurious cargo transport bound for the United States Marine Base at Guantánamo Bay and thence on to San Juan.

---