Scientology’s private cruise ship had a fitful history before becoming a floating cathedral

 
Jeffrey Augustine dives into the background of Scientology’s private cruise ship the Motor Vessel Freewinds, which has quite a colorful history. Rod Keller has the week off.

Built in 1968 at the Wärtsilä Turku Shipyard in Turku, Finland, the ship that would become Scientology’s MV Freewinds was originally designed as a North Sea car ferry. The vessel was ordered by Lion Ferry, a Swedish company that operated car-transport lines in Europe and America. The design concept was simple: Cars were loaded through the stern doors and unloaded in front through a retractable bow. Passengers walked up a gang plank into a side door in the ship. A 1970’s-era stern shot of a sister ship — The Kamiros of the Dane Sea Lines — shows the design of the stern doors:

 
Lion Ferry had two such ships operating and ordered two more. Lion then decided it only needed one of the additional ships it had ordered. The Wallenius Lines took over the contract on the other ship that would become the Freewinds. The ship was reconfigured to be a passenger cruise ship only. The car deck became passenger staterooms. Luxury amenities were added by the Wallenius Lines to transform the vessel into a true cruise ship rather than a utilitarian short-haul car ferry.

Christened the MS Bohème, the ship was launched in 1968. Its first voyage from Stockholm to Miami was cursed when the vessel hit an undersea cliff off the coast of Stockholm. The hull and a large fuel tank were ruptured. The ship took on a list. Emergency vessels were called and the ship’s passengers were safely evacuated. The damage was slight and was repaired in a week in the Finnboda dry docks in Stockholm.

Wallenius Lines leased the MS Bohème to Commodore Cruise Lines. Commodore operated the vessel from Miami to St. Thomas and other Caribbean ports for two years. However, the ship, which had been designed for North Sea operations, proved unsatisfactory for Caribbean service. In 1970, the vessel underwent an extensive rebuild at the Blohm+Voss shipyards in Hamburg. A new air-conditioning system was installed as were screw compressors and new freshwater generators. Following the rebuild, Commodore employed the Bohème from 1970 to 1982 on the same weekly run from Miami to St. Thomas and back. The route was very popular and the Bohème was a profitable investment. Commodore even promoted the vessel as the “Happy Ship” as this vintage advertisement shows:

 
In 1981, Wallenius sold the now 13-year-old vessel to Rederi Ab Sally, a Finland-based shipping company that wanted to enter the burgeoning cruise ship business.

The company then leased the vessel to Saitecin Cruises for South American cruising. The Bohème sailed to Rio de Janeiro and as far south as Tierra del Fuego in the years 1982-1983. After its South American period, the ship sailed back to Bremerhaven for retrofitting as the ship was showing its age. The hull was even cut open to install two new diesel generators. After the refit, Bohème was returned to Caribbean routes from its new home port of St. Petersburg, Florida. The ship catered to retirees, and, as St. Petersburg and nearby Clearwater had a large population of retirees with disposable income, the new port was a logical choice.

Meanwhile, as the Bohème catered to retirees in the Caribbean, Scientology had been preparing for a big new development.

Scientology’s OT VII level was released on September 20, 1970. In May 1971, Clear News Issue 57 announced that OT VIII — the highest level of achievement on Scientology’s “Bridge to Total Freedom” — would soon be released based upon the following conditions being met:

OT VIII will be released soon and we want as many people as possible up to OT VII and full case completion, ready to go when OT VIII is released.

How soon OT VIII is released depends on how many are prepared for it. So it is the responsibility of each individual, not only for himself, but to all Scientologists and the rest of Mankind to get to OT VII with no Q&A. Don’t let anything stop you – it’s your own immortality and OT Power at stake.

As with so many promises made by Scientology, the promise of OT VIII being released would take much longer to be fulfilled. In 1984 Scientology leadership decided that OT VIII could not possibly be delivered on land. This was due to the many distractions presented by what L. Ron Hubbard deemed a degraded humanoid civilization. As Scientology would later tell the IRS:

CSI believed that an ocean-going vessel would be the most appropriate facility for ministering New OT VIII because this advanced level of religious service requires a completely safe, aesthetic and distraction-free environment and because L. Ron Hubbard, the religion’s founder, had researched and ministered the first OT levels aboard a ship in the late 1960s. A ship therefore would have particular religious significance to Scientologists.

In 1984 Scientology’s ultimate slush fund — called the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) – was formed coincident with the announcement that a ship was needed to deliver OT VIII. Created in the wake of the prosecutions of high-level Scientology officials who went to prison for their part in running the Snow White Program, the IAS arose from the ashes of the Safe Environment Fund (SEF), an entity that had been created to pay for the legal expenses of Snow White defendants. When the defendants signed a Stipulation of Evidence and were sentenced there was no longer a need for the SEF. However, the Church realized the true beauty of the SEF was that no monies ever had to be refunded from a defense fund. Hence, the IAS was created in 1984 to defend and protect the Scientology religion.

Sea Org member Janet Light was appointed to lead the IAS. Cash immediately began pouring in at prodigious rates as Janet Light’s registrars fanned out over the entire Scientology universe. The sales pitch was that the fate of Scientology hung in the balance and the IAS was all that stood between the Scientology’s powerful enemies and destruction.

Sea Org teams were dispatched internationally in search of a ship for Scientology to purchase. Once the Bohème was identified as the ship that would best fit Scientology’s needs, an entity called the Flag Ship Trust was created in December 1985. The IAS donated $5 million as initial funding for the trust.

In 1986, the now eighteen-year-old Bohème was sold for $10 million to San Donato Properties of Panama, a Scientology-controlled entity. Adjusted for inflation, this is $22 million dollars in 2018 money. Extensive renovations of the ship were undertaken by Sea Org members and shipyard workers in Willemstad, Curacao. For example, a high-security OT VIII HGC had to be built on the ship as did an OT VIII course room and auditing rooms.

The vessel would ostensibly be operated by Majestic Cruise Lines, another Scientology-controlled entity. The new owners christened the ship the MV Freewinds. Despite the tangle of the typical Scientology front companies, the Freewinds was managed and crewed by Sea Org members who worked for a new Org called the Flag Ship Service Organization (FSSO). Sea Org member Mike Napier, who was a licensed ship master, was appointed the captain of the Freewinds and remains its skipper to this day.

As we covered in a previous article, the IAS is an unincorporated membership organization that, in and of itself can do nothing. Therefore, the IAS needed an operating arm that could collect monies, open offshore bank accounts, and spend monies on its behalf as David Miscavige saw fit. The IAS operating arm was created and named the International Association of Scientologists Administrations (IASA). While the IAS and the IASA had offices everywhere Scientology operated, both were legally situated in Curacao so that their operations and offshore bank accounts were outside of US jurisdiction.

Offices for the IAS and the IASA were placed on board the Freewinds itself. In order to reach the level of OT VIII, the very pinnacle of Scientology’s Bridge to Total Freedom, members would need to travel to Curacao and board the Freewinds where a gauntlet of IAS and other Scientology salespeople awaited them in this captive environment.

No longer the “Happy Ship” as the Bohème, the ship had a much grimmer future ahead of it.

 
— Jeffrey Augustine

Jeffrey will be back with a part two of the Freewinds’ history later this week.

 
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Scientology’s celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs’ — now with comments!

We’ve started a new project, building landing pages about two of David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, his celebrities and his ‘Ideal Orgs.’ For the next several weeks, we’ll post a couple of pages each day, and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about each of them, in order to build a record and maintain a watch as Scientology continues its inexorable decline — and yes, we finally have comments working on these new pages! Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments about all of your favorite celebrites and failing Ideal Orgs

Previously, we posted pages for celebrities Anne Archer, Beck Hansen, Catherine Bell, Chick Corea, Elisabeth Moss, Erika Christensen, Ethan Suplee, Giovanni Ribisi, Greta Van Susteren, Jenna Elfman and John Travolta. And for the Ideal Orgs of Portland, Oregon; Sydney, Australia; San Diego, California; Denver, Colorado; Nashville, Tennessee; Perth, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; Sacramento, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Silicon Valley, California and Rome, Italy.

Today it’s Juliette Lewis and Orlando, Florida!

 
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MEANWHILE, AT FACEBOOK…

 
Please join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 23, 2018 at 07:00

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