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miscreants. Those who knew they were would remove their shoes, jackets
and wristwatches in anticipation. The drop was between fifteen and forty
feet, depending upon which deck was used. Sometimes people were
blindfolded first, and either their feet or hands loosely tied.
Non-swimmers were tied to a rope. Being hurled such a distance,
blindfolded and restrained, into cold sea water, must have been
terrifying. Worst of all was the fear that you would hit the side of the
ship as you fell, your flesh ripped open by the barnacles. Overboarding
was a very traumatic experience. (2)
The chain locker was a small compartment at the bow of the ship
where the excess chain attached to the anchor was wound up and stored.
It was a cold, dark wet area frequently inhabited by rats. It was into
this compartment that people would be lowered as a form of "ethics," or
punishment. It was a dangerous form of punishment, since at any moment
the chain could be released, and the person in the chain locker, if not
careful, could be caught in the outgoing chain.
In several cases, children were put into the chain locker as
punishment for misdeeds. In one case Hubbard ordered a five year old
deaf mute girl into the chain locker "to cure her deafness." In another
case a four year old boy was kept in the chain locker for two weeks
because he ate some telex tape. His mother was told that he was actually
a very old thetan in a young body, and should not be given sympathy
because of his young body. (3) This is a common
conception of children in Scientology.
Another form of "ethics" on the ship had the person:
... put into old rusty tanks, way below the ship, with filthy bilge
water, no air, and hardly sitting height, for anything from twenty-four
hours to a week, and getting their oxygen via tubes. They were kept
awake, often for days on end. They ate from the communal food bucket
with their blistered and filthy hands. They chipped away at rust
unceasingly. The Ethics Officers were constantly checking outside to
hear if the hammering continued. There were no bathroom facilities in
the bilge tanks.... (4)
One report of life in the Sea Org on the ship comes from a teenager
who joined Scientology with her parents in the 1970s. Her name is Tonja
Burden and she was separated from her parents and placed in the Cadet
Organization in Los Angeles:
(The Cadet Organization) consisted of two three-story buildings that
housed approximately 400 children. The Cadet Organization was designed
to teach children about Scientology. My duties were to care for, clean
and feed the children. Myself and another girl my age were the two
oldest children at the Cadet Organization.
The living conditions were squalid. Glass from broken windows lay
strewn over the floors. Live electrical wires were exposed in areas
where young children played. We received little food. On several
occasions spoiled milk with maggots was served to children. The maggots
were removed by hand before the milk was served. In addition to caring
for the children, I cleaned the toilets daily.
Children were not allowed to live with their parents. Scientology
permitted one visit every other week, and only for forty-five minutes
during mealtime....
I saw the Apollo for the first time and was greatly disappointed by
its dilapidated condition. Once aboard, I was given a berth in the
women's dorm and placed in the Estates Project Force (EPF).
In the EPF, my day began at 6:00am. I scrubbed clothes from 6:00am
until 12:00 noon without breakfast or any breaks. The clothes were
scrubbed by hand in a bucket, and I was directed to rinse each article
in 13 separate buckets. Then I hung the clothes on the deck to dry.
After a one-half hour lunch I was assigned to clean six cabins.
Cabins had to meet white glove inspection. If the cabins were not
cleaned to white-glove perfection, I had to run a lap around the boat
before recleaning the room. My day would end at about 12:00 midnight.
On rainy days I ironed the clothes dry. This required ironing during
the evening hours and into the morning hours. On many occasions I ironed
through the night, finishing at 6:00am. I then started washing the next
morning's clothing. On occasion I worked three or four days without
sleeping. I fell asleep at the ironing board with a hot iron in my hand.
My senior caught me sleeping and yanked my head off the board. She
ordered me to run laps and assigned me a condition of "Doubt." A
condition of Doubt required fifteen hours of amends work. This
additional work had to be performed during my sleep or meal time.
While in the EPF I never heard from my parents, no phone calls or
letters. Aboard the ship, I received a telex informing me that my father
had been declared an SP (Suppressive Person). They said he was a spy
within Scientology. I began crying and asked to leave, telling them I
could convince my father to return to Scientology... but they would not
permit me to leave. I was told to disconnect from my parents because
they were SPs. Disconnection meant no more communication with my