aegerprimo
Summa Cum Laude
This is my story of how I came to sign a billion-year contract and become exposed to blue asbestos. This account is to the best of my memory. Many years have passed; some details are as clear as they happened yesterday, many details elude me. A lot of the names I do not remember, so I appropriately only included names of anyone who has already been mentioned in Lawrence Woodcraft’s affidavit and YouTube interview.
I was a college student studying civil engineering at night at a community college, while working full-time as a draftsman at a land surveying company. I was on my own, paying my own way, and a lot was going on in life for me then. My father was dying of cancer, which put me in a state of sadness and shock. My fiancé of 3 years broke up with me, which put me in a state of exasperation and shock.
It was the summer of 1985, and along came a Dianetics book from a friend who thought it might help. In no time, I was at NY Org daily taking courses, doing the grades. I was excited about Dianetics and Scientology and thought everyone in the world should know about it. It did not take long for a Sea Org member from CMO EUS to find me. She told me about the huge purpose of the Sea Org; that they were the most elite group of individuals in the world; it was their goal to get the tech to everyone and clear the planet. In joining I was able to focus on what I thought a noble task. My dying father and lost first love seemed trivial compared to helping everyone on Earth achieve… total freedom.
During the first year in the SO, half was spent in CMO EUS (New York City) and half in CMO CW (Clearwater FL). During this time I spoke a lot of my drafting skills and how it would be great if I could somehow use them in the SO. I found out about LRH’s architect – Barry Stein (who later I came to find out was not really an architect) – and sent him my resume and some samples of my drafting/design work.
Soon I was informed I was being sent to the ship that the church had just purchased. It was to be the place where the upper OT levels would be delivered, and was all SUPER TOP SECRET. I was handed a plane ticket, destination Curaçao. I didn’t know where Curaçao was, which in my ignorance I pronounced KUra-kAo. Didn’t matter, I was starting on an exciting adventure, a Sea Org member going to a ship!
I arrived in September, 1986, 21 years-old and eager, with the last of my worldly possessions inside a dinky suitcase (mostly drafting equipment). The moment I pulled up in a taxi to where the ship was docked, I was in awe of how HUGE it was. I’d never been on or seen a cruise ship before. Somehow I was expecting something ferry-boat sized.
At that time, the ship was still named the Bohème and retained a skeleton crew from the previous cruise-line, Commodore Cruise Line “The Happy Ships” (their logos were everywhere). The skeleton crew was mostly ship engineers. They were there teaching the new crew all the mechanical nuances of the ship. They had also helped rebuild the main engines when it was in dry-dock. The new crew of course consisted of all Sea Org members. Our “shore story” was that we were employed by Majestic Cruise Lines. It seemed easy to put up a front of being authentic merchant marines. We did fire safety, damage control training, and lifeboat rescue drills. For those of us who had never been on or worked on a ship before, we had to do LRH’s Able Bodied Seaman Course.
These first SO crew members were skilled tradesmen; welders, diesel mechanics, electrical engineers versus being instant hatted for the posts as was the standard in the history of the SO. Some of them were veteran SO members who had served on ships with LRH in the past. Then there was the captain, Mike Napier, who was a real licensed ship captain versus an LRH appointed captain. I think his first mate was a licensed ship captain as well. It was a great group of people, from all over the world.
The ship was ugly on the inside. Over worn 1960’s décor that smelled like a greasy kitchen; everywhere faded avocado green, tacky florals, lemon yellow and lime green vinyl. Renovations started in the crew quarters. The below water line crew areas were disgusting, total squalor. One cabin that stands out in my mind had a Sacred Heart Jesus poster taped to the wall over a built-in desk. On the desk were empty bottles of rum and a half-eaten can of sardines teeming with roaches. The smell made me gag, a combo of body odor and rotten fish.
I worked with two interior designers. One was Barry Stein’s wife, Carol. The other was a public Scientologist. My job as a draftsman was to draw floor plans, elevations, and cross-sections, which included dimensions, materials, etc. so the designs could be built. I measured everything throughout the ship, and drew the interior designers’ plans to scale. I used the original blue prints of the ship as a guide, even though they were in Swedish and Finnish.
As I went around the ship measuring this and that, I made it a hobby to collect all the coins scattered throughout the cabins and restaurants, coins from all over the world. I still have them.
As the initial designs were being completed and sent off to INT for approval, SO members trickled onto the ship to do manual labor and demolition work. The crew areas were cleaned and re-tiled with linoleum, outside deck areas repainted and wood refinished, leaky pipes fixed. The engine room was totally repainted (supposedly Navy style) per LRH policy. I felt sorry for the “greenie crew” who had to scrub by hand every inch of the bug infested crew cabins and slimy bathrooms with greenie scrub pads and unscented cleaners.
Sometime at the beginning of 1987, Lawry Woodcraft arrived, a licensed architect with restaurant experience, and Steve Kasaki, a general contractor. Lawry was appointed the “Ship Architect” and Steve the “Construction I/C”. The project really needed Lawry because there were some designs that proposed doorways through fire-walls, new elevators between steel decks, and other outlandish “no-can-do” design proposals. I remember Lawry’s input was often disregarded because his architectural training was WOG and therefore not valid on a Scientology ship. Of course I never said anything because I was a good little minion even though my training was WOG as well.
Bitty Miscavige was the INT terminal who was running the whole Freewinds project. Upon the final approval of the designs, she set up an office in Miami with a couple of SO members who did the ordering of materials needed, and coordinated the shipments to the dock in Curaçao such as; wallpapers, window treatments, paints, light fixtures, custom carpets, custom bedding, chairs, and various building materials.
The interior designers had proposed making some of the passenger cabins into suites, which required putting a doorway between cabins. The original ship blue-prints (in Swedish and Finnish) did not clearly indicate what was running through the walls (pipes, ductwork, wiring, etc.), so Steve and Lawry decided to knock down/take down a panel in one of these cabins to see what was there. I’m pretty sure I went with them that day because anywhere there were modifications being done; I was there with a measuring tape and sketch pad.
This was the ill-fated day when asbestos was noticed, inside the wall, when the panel was removed. The interior structural steel and piping was covered with it. Lawry thought it might be blue asbestos, the most dangerous type. To me it looked grayish in color and covered the interior pipes/conduits as well. I recall the cabin was closed/sealed off until further testing could be done.
The “testing” that followed occurred totally Co$/Sea Org style. Bitty Miscavige arrived on the ship and called a meeting of all involved in this part of the design phase. LRH policies and Flag Orders where searched for info about asbestos and how to handle it. A policy was located about fiberglass. I remembered learning in my WOG schooling that fiberglass and asbestos are two different materials even though often used for the same purposes.
So it was decided, all fiberglass would be pulled off the ship. The solution created for the asbestos problem, that if any exposed during construction was wet down, it might not become airborne and travel through the ductwork and all over the ship. A crew of SO members was assigned to go around with water bottles spraying down the asbestos every time a ceiling or wall panel was taken down or modified. Everywhere, I saw crew members crawling through ceilings and walls pulling out chunks of fiberglass. Ceiling and wall panels were constantly removed to repair pipes that were constantly leaking, sometimes over newly installed carpeting. No-one ever wore masks or protective gear.
Oh well, the Freewinds was an OT ship, little pieces of jagged fibers floating through the air, that could lodge forever in people’s lungs and cause cancer, was not going to stop TOTAL FREEDOM! (CASH FLOW TO THE CHURCH!)
To speed up the renovations and to make the Maiden Voyage deadline, a WOG construction crew from England came to the ship. The “asbestos spray down crew” followed them around too. When this contracting company got wind (pun intended) of the blue asbestos, they left. See Lawry’s affidavit and video interview for more specifics.
When my work as draftsman was done, I was posted in the engine room since I was an “engineer”. I didn’t know diddlysquat about diesel engines and boilers! No problem, I had lots of experience with engines on my whole track (I faked it).
About a month before the Maiden Voyage in June 1988, I expressed my desire to leave the SO. Within a day or two I was flown to Flag for handling. That is a whole other story…
The point of THIS story is, like everyone involved with the Freewinds, I denied that the asbestos was a problem. I think the only one who understood the severity of the contamination was Lawry, and feel he probably tried to make everyone understand the danger. LRH did not write anything about asbestos, which meant it was nothing to be concerned about. We were the Sea Org, we were Scientologists, we were at cause over MEST BRAINWASHED. So, I put it out of my mind, WAY out of my mind, no worries.
Only when I recently decided to find out what is really going on with the Co$ these days, planet clearing and all that rot, did I come across the info all over the internet. I was appalled when I discovered and read Lawry’s affidavit. I hope my story here can help somehow. All these years have gone by and the asbestos remains a problem!
I, along with so many others, have breathed the foul air of the Freewinds.
I was a college student studying civil engineering at night at a community college, while working full-time as a draftsman at a land surveying company. I was on my own, paying my own way, and a lot was going on in life for me then. My father was dying of cancer, which put me in a state of sadness and shock. My fiancé of 3 years broke up with me, which put me in a state of exasperation and shock.
It was the summer of 1985, and along came a Dianetics book from a friend who thought it might help. In no time, I was at NY Org daily taking courses, doing the grades. I was excited about Dianetics and Scientology and thought everyone in the world should know about it. It did not take long for a Sea Org member from CMO EUS to find me. She told me about the huge purpose of the Sea Org; that they were the most elite group of individuals in the world; it was their goal to get the tech to everyone and clear the planet. In joining I was able to focus on what I thought a noble task. My dying father and lost first love seemed trivial compared to helping everyone on Earth achieve… total freedom.
During the first year in the SO, half was spent in CMO EUS (New York City) and half in CMO CW (Clearwater FL). During this time I spoke a lot of my drafting skills and how it would be great if I could somehow use them in the SO. I found out about LRH’s architect – Barry Stein (who later I came to find out was not really an architect) – and sent him my resume and some samples of my drafting/design work.
Soon I was informed I was being sent to the ship that the church had just purchased. It was to be the place where the upper OT levels would be delivered, and was all SUPER TOP SECRET. I was handed a plane ticket, destination Curaçao. I didn’t know where Curaçao was, which in my ignorance I pronounced KUra-kAo. Didn’t matter, I was starting on an exciting adventure, a Sea Org member going to a ship!
I arrived in September, 1986, 21 years-old and eager, with the last of my worldly possessions inside a dinky suitcase (mostly drafting equipment). The moment I pulled up in a taxi to where the ship was docked, I was in awe of how HUGE it was. I’d never been on or seen a cruise ship before. Somehow I was expecting something ferry-boat sized.
At that time, the ship was still named the Bohème and retained a skeleton crew from the previous cruise-line, Commodore Cruise Line “The Happy Ships” (their logos were everywhere). The skeleton crew was mostly ship engineers. They were there teaching the new crew all the mechanical nuances of the ship. They had also helped rebuild the main engines when it was in dry-dock. The new crew of course consisted of all Sea Org members. Our “shore story” was that we were employed by Majestic Cruise Lines. It seemed easy to put up a front of being authentic merchant marines. We did fire safety, damage control training, and lifeboat rescue drills. For those of us who had never been on or worked on a ship before, we had to do LRH’s Able Bodied Seaman Course.
These first SO crew members were skilled tradesmen; welders, diesel mechanics, electrical engineers versus being instant hatted for the posts as was the standard in the history of the SO. Some of them were veteran SO members who had served on ships with LRH in the past. Then there was the captain, Mike Napier, who was a real licensed ship captain versus an LRH appointed captain. I think his first mate was a licensed ship captain as well. It was a great group of people, from all over the world.
The ship was ugly on the inside. Over worn 1960’s décor that smelled like a greasy kitchen; everywhere faded avocado green, tacky florals, lemon yellow and lime green vinyl. Renovations started in the crew quarters. The below water line crew areas were disgusting, total squalor. One cabin that stands out in my mind had a Sacred Heart Jesus poster taped to the wall over a built-in desk. On the desk were empty bottles of rum and a half-eaten can of sardines teeming with roaches. The smell made me gag, a combo of body odor and rotten fish.
I worked with two interior designers. One was Barry Stein’s wife, Carol. The other was a public Scientologist. My job as a draftsman was to draw floor plans, elevations, and cross-sections, which included dimensions, materials, etc. so the designs could be built. I measured everything throughout the ship, and drew the interior designers’ plans to scale. I used the original blue prints of the ship as a guide, even though they were in Swedish and Finnish.
As I went around the ship measuring this and that, I made it a hobby to collect all the coins scattered throughout the cabins and restaurants, coins from all over the world. I still have them.
As the initial designs were being completed and sent off to INT for approval, SO members trickled onto the ship to do manual labor and demolition work. The crew areas were cleaned and re-tiled with linoleum, outside deck areas repainted and wood refinished, leaky pipes fixed. The engine room was totally repainted (supposedly Navy style) per LRH policy. I felt sorry for the “greenie crew” who had to scrub by hand every inch of the bug infested crew cabins and slimy bathrooms with greenie scrub pads and unscented cleaners.
Sometime at the beginning of 1987, Lawry Woodcraft arrived, a licensed architect with restaurant experience, and Steve Kasaki, a general contractor. Lawry was appointed the “Ship Architect” and Steve the “Construction I/C”. The project really needed Lawry because there were some designs that proposed doorways through fire-walls, new elevators between steel decks, and other outlandish “no-can-do” design proposals. I remember Lawry’s input was often disregarded because his architectural training was WOG and therefore not valid on a Scientology ship. Of course I never said anything because I was a good little minion even though my training was WOG as well.
Bitty Miscavige was the INT terminal who was running the whole Freewinds project. Upon the final approval of the designs, she set up an office in Miami with a couple of SO members who did the ordering of materials needed, and coordinated the shipments to the dock in Curaçao such as; wallpapers, window treatments, paints, light fixtures, custom carpets, custom bedding, chairs, and various building materials.
The interior designers had proposed making some of the passenger cabins into suites, which required putting a doorway between cabins. The original ship blue-prints (in Swedish and Finnish) did not clearly indicate what was running through the walls (pipes, ductwork, wiring, etc.), so Steve and Lawry decided to knock down/take down a panel in one of these cabins to see what was there. I’m pretty sure I went with them that day because anywhere there were modifications being done; I was there with a measuring tape and sketch pad.
This was the ill-fated day when asbestos was noticed, inside the wall, when the panel was removed. The interior structural steel and piping was covered with it. Lawry thought it might be blue asbestos, the most dangerous type. To me it looked grayish in color and covered the interior pipes/conduits as well. I recall the cabin was closed/sealed off until further testing could be done.
The “testing” that followed occurred totally Co$/Sea Org style. Bitty Miscavige arrived on the ship and called a meeting of all involved in this part of the design phase. LRH policies and Flag Orders where searched for info about asbestos and how to handle it. A policy was located about fiberglass. I remembered learning in my WOG schooling that fiberglass and asbestos are two different materials even though often used for the same purposes.
So it was decided, all fiberglass would be pulled off the ship. The solution created for the asbestos problem, that if any exposed during construction was wet down, it might not become airborne and travel through the ductwork and all over the ship. A crew of SO members was assigned to go around with water bottles spraying down the asbestos every time a ceiling or wall panel was taken down or modified. Everywhere, I saw crew members crawling through ceilings and walls pulling out chunks of fiberglass. Ceiling and wall panels were constantly removed to repair pipes that were constantly leaking, sometimes over newly installed carpeting. No-one ever wore masks or protective gear.
Oh well, the Freewinds was an OT ship, little pieces of jagged fibers floating through the air, that could lodge forever in people’s lungs and cause cancer, was not going to stop TOTAL FREEDOM! (CASH FLOW TO THE CHURCH!)
To speed up the renovations and to make the Maiden Voyage deadline, a WOG construction crew from England came to the ship. The “asbestos spray down crew” followed them around too. When this contracting company got wind (pun intended) of the blue asbestos, they left. See Lawry’s affidavit and video interview for more specifics.
When my work as draftsman was done, I was posted in the engine room since I was an “engineer”. I didn’t know diddlysquat about diesel engines and boilers! No problem, I had lots of experience with engines on my whole track (I faked it).
About a month before the Maiden Voyage in June 1988, I expressed my desire to leave the SO. Within a day or two I was flown to Flag for handling. That is a whole other story…
The point of THIS story is, like everyone involved with the Freewinds, I denied that the asbestos was a problem. I think the only one who understood the severity of the contamination was Lawry, and feel he probably tried to make everyone understand the danger. LRH did not write anything about asbestos, which meant it was nothing to be concerned about. We were the Sea Org, we were Scientologists, we were at cause over MEST BRAINWASHED. So, I put it out of my mind, WAY out of my mind, no worries.
Only when I recently decided to find out what is really going on with the Co$ these days, planet clearing and all that rot, did I come across the info all over the internet. I was appalled when I discovered and read Lawry’s affidavit. I hope my story here can help somehow. All these years have gone by and the asbestos remains a problem!
I, along with so many others, have breathed the foul air of the Freewinds.
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