Travers Harris – My life in Scientology and the Sea Organization

[phenomanon]

I never realized the Apollo had a flat bottomed barge type hull !

That must have made it terribly unstable in the open sea. Was it?

I understand now why it only crossed the Atlantic once.

I'm not hip on what kind of bottom it had, but when we went to sea, every fooking SO member on that ship was on the upper deck, sick as dogs. There was only one FEBC student, and I, who stayed on course.
I couldn't believe that ppl who were charged with sailing "the world's biggest yacht, Ron's Home" couldn;t manage to stay on post at sea. It wasn't a rough sea, even.

I shared the Aft Lounge berthing with I dunno how many ppl. Maybe close to a hundred. We were stacked in there in tiers on boards, and we were issued one sheet. There was no locker. No place to keep your stuff.
That problem was settled for me rather quickly when my underwear and other articles of clothing was stolen by the little CMO girls.

I would have to shake out my sheet to get the cockroaches off of it, then I'd wrap up in it the best I could, like a mummy, to keep some of the vermin off of me. The noises during the night were pathetic and frightening.
One woman loudly fought BTs all night. Horrible horrible scene on the fooking Apollo.

The food wasn't all that bad. I don't eat much anyways, so the French bread and butter satisfied me. Quentin invited me to eat with him at his table, too. So I am not complaining about food. I am talking about absolute filth
and degradation.

There were SO members down in the Hold who were fail on hard TRs. They had been there for weeks, months. They were apathetic, almost catatonic. They cried hopelessly. Hubbard sent down a request to me to "get the bug off the TRs course", which I did in two days time. ( I got a commendation from LRH for that).

The Hold was full up with Spanish wine, which I was told was used for ballast. But I saw Mary Sue sitting dockside drinking from a bottle of it.

I walked into the FEBC classroom one morning and Howard Schube was demonstrating some poiint from an HCOB and he had a pushbroom that he was pushing around the floor in a circle. I looked around, and I saw that
everyone on that ship was batshit crazy, and I was the craziest one of them all because I was there. I began plotting how to get outta there post haste.

I was an utter fool to pay a Freeloader bill and go back on lines to get Tech trained. But I did.
Now I see that they have apparently cancelled my Class 8 cert, and busted me down to Class 5. Fuck 'em. Bunch of crazies.

 

[Elronius of Marcabia]

I'm not hip on what kind of bottom it had, but when we went to sea, every fooking SO member on that ship was on the upper deck, sick as dogs. There was only one FEBC student, and I, who stayed on course.
I couldn't believe that ppl who were charged with sailing "the world's biggest yacht, Ron's Home" couldn;t manage to stay on post at sea. It wasn't a rough sea, even.

I shared the Aft Lounge berthing with I dunno how many ppl. Maybe close to a hundred. We were stacked in there in tiers on boards, and we were issued one sheet. There was no locker. No place to keep your stuff.
That problem was settled for me rather quickly when my underwear and other articles of clothing was stolen by the little CMO girls.

I would have to shake out my sheet to get the cockroaches off of it, then I'd wrap up in it the best I could, like a mummy, to keep some of the vermin off of me. The noises during the night were pathetic and frightening.
One woman loudly fought BTs all night. Horrible horrible scene on the fooking Apollo.

The food wasn't all that bad. I don't eat much anyways, so the French bread and butter satisfied me. Quentin invited me to eat with him at his table, too. So I am not complaining about food. I am talking about absolute filth
and degradation.

There were SO members down in the Hold who were fail on hard TRs. They had been there for weeks, months. They were apathetic, almost catatonic. They cried hopelessly. Hubbard sent down a request to me to "get the bug off the TRs course", which I did in two days time. ( I got a commendation from LRH for that).

The Hold was full up with Spanish wine, which I was told was used for ballast. But I saw Mary Sue sitting dockside drinking from a bottle of it.

I walked into the FEBC classroom one morning and Howard Schube was demonstrating some poiint from an HCOB and he had a pushbroom that he was pushing around the floor in a circle. I looked around, and I saw that
everyone on that ship was batshit crazy, and I was the craziest one of them all because I was there. I began plotting how to get outta there post haste.

I was an utter fool to pay a Freeloader bill and go back on lines to get Tech trained. But I did.
Now I see that they have apparently cancelled my Class 8 cert, and busted me down to Class 5. Fuck 'em. Bunch of crazies.

Ship of Fools ?
Ship of the Damned ?
Glory Days on the Apollo ?

I was'nt there can't say from personal experience, but I did work with a fellow briefly
who had been on the Apollo, of course I was eager to hear his story and kind of prodded him for a story or two.

Obviously I had heard the Myths about working with Hubbard and gulp had drank the kool aid
at the time.

Normally a cheery fellow he looked away with that far away eye, went quite solid took a long
drag off his cigarette and changed the subject.

Sorry don't recall his name it 30 some years ago, but the vibe and feeling I got
was it was something he just soon forget

Flags red flags, always so clear is hindsight

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

I never realized the Apollo had a flat bottomed barge type hull !

That must have made it terribly unstable in the open sea. Was it?

I understand now why it only crossed the Atlantic once.

I've Posted in the past about all of this...

The Atlantic Crossing was a friggen nightmare for much of the Crew and would have been far worse without the prevailing relatively fair seas. The Forward and Aft Well Decks had large cargo hatches for goods to be crane loaded into the holds below. The Midships superstructure (Sun, Prom, Bridge, A and B Decks) was for passengers, etc and the Lower Tween Decks was for livestock with dock height cattle doors for loading/unloading. The Aft Berthing and virtually all of the berthing outside of the MUD's (Midships Upper Decks) were a hell hole and most of the MUD's berthing was quite Spartan, with the exception of the Engineers, Ships Captain, MSH & Family that although Spartan, were a cut above everyone else on the ship except, of course, Source.

El Ron's berthing, office and Family Dinning Room were palatial in comparison to those at the top of the pecking order.

The shallow draft flat bottom would have made the Apollo an ideal troop landing craft.

Face

EDIT PS: The Cockroach infestation was a scourge to the very last days of the SO's "Flagship".

 

[Enthetan]

The shallow draft flat bottom would have made the Apollo an ideal troop landing craft.

It was, during WW2. See link at post #16.

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

It was, during WW2. See link at post #16.

TKU. Saw that and that's why I made that comment...I already knew that and the Irish Sea Ferry History from my Apollo Days. The Cattle Doors made for rapid loading/unloading of troops.

Face

EDIT PS: The Apollo was actually a pretty stout and well built ship. However, she was old, worn out, poorly maintained and was built with '30's technology for specific multi-use utilitarian purposes and not as an open ocean, long cruise floating administrative offices and high occupancy long term residence vessel.

 

[pkatz]

The Apollo was a ferry. Originally christened HMS Royal Scotsman:

The ship was built by Harland and Wolff at Belfast for the Burns and Laird Lines as Yard No. 964. Launched on 11 March 1936, the ship was completed on 29 May 1936 and entered service as MV Royal Scotsman as a passenger and cargo ferry in the Irish Sea, operating between Belfast and Glasgow.
​

Same yard as built RMS Titanic.

Royal Scot Man Anecdote told by Wally Burgess, original SO Member:

Vessel was christened ROYAL SCOTSMAN. Seller insisted the name be changed when sold to CofS. The Commodore had the bright idea to paint over the center "S", and she became ROYAL SCOT MAN.

Second RSM anecdote from Bo Waters, early (if not one of the original) SO member:

1967. The vessel was a mess. Spaces were being cleaned, old gear thrown away, new stuff arriving, systems being tested. Raw landsmen were getting the first taste of living aboard. All was confusion. The new SO Ethics penalties demanding around the clock amends for every foul up made foul ups even more likely.
The Commodore, smiling and dressed in a clean rig, appeared before his crew, who had been gathered on the pier.
"I see what's wrong. (big smile) Half of the crew is trying to take the ship apart and the other half is trying to put it back together!"

 

[Elronius of Marcabia]

Same yard as built RMS Titanic.

Royal Scot Man Anecdote told by Wally Burgess, original SO Member:

Vessel was christened ROYAL SCOTSMAN. Seller insisted the name be changed when sold to CofS. The Commodore had the bright idea to paint over the center "S", and she became ROYAL SCOT MAN.

Second RSM anecdote from Bo Waters, early (if not one of the original) SO member:

1967. The vessel was a mess. Spaces were being cleaned, old gear thrown away, new stuff arriving, systems being tested. Raw landsmen were getting the first taste of living aboard. All was confusion. The new SO Ethics penalties demanding around the clock amends for every foul up made foul ups even more likely.
The Commodore, smiling and dressed in a clean rig, appeared before his crew, who had been gathered on the pier.
"I see what's wrong. (big smile) Half of the crew is trying to take the ship apart and the other half is trying to put it back together!"

There's yer clue the Skipper was an asshole !!

 

[phenomanon]

I've Posted in the past about all of this...

The Atlantic Crossing was a friggen nightmare for much of the Crew and would have been far worse without the prevailing relatively fair seas. The Forward and Aft Well Decks had large cargo hatches for goods to be crane loaded into the holds below. The Midships superstructure (Sun, Prom, Bridge, A and B Decks) was for passengers, etc and the Lower Tween Decks was for livestock with dock height cattle doors for loading/unloading. The Aft Berthing and virtually all of the berthing outside of the MUD's (Midships Upper Decks) were a hell hole and most of the MUD's berthing was quite Spartan, with the exception of the Engineers, Ships Captain, MSH & Family that although Spartan, were a cut above everyone else on the ship except, of course, Source.

El Ron's berthing, office and Family Dinning Room were palatial in comparison to those at the top of the pecking order.

The shallow draft flat bottom would have made the Apollo an ideal troop landing craft.

Face

EDIT PS: The Cockroach infestation was a scourge to the very last days of the SO's "Flagship".

The cockroachs were bad enuff, but it was worse than that. Many of us caught "harvest mites", and some of us got Scabies. We were taken to a Moroccan Dr who painted us with the same shit they used on their oxen. My eyes swelled shut, but I fooking stayed on course, stayed in Power by checking other students
out on the materials. Toadly unreal scene. To say that the Flagship was a culture shock for me is an understatement.

 

[Boojuum]

Phenomenon:

Your posts and recalled stories and insights from the old days are priceless! Keep 'em coming!

Cockroaches and "Harvest Mites" and scabies and nearly everyone seasick and CMO girls stealing your underwear, "The Mecca of Technical Perfection" indeed. Yet virtually EVERYONE I knew who was on the ship would speak about the grandness of LRH and how clean the ship was. LOL.

 

[Cat's Squirrel]

Phenomenon:

Your posts and recalled stories and insights from the old days are priceless! Keep 'em coming!

Cockroaches and "Harvest Mites" and scabies and nearly everyone seasick and CMO girls stealing your underwear, "The Mecca of Technical Perfection" indeed. Yet virtually EVERYONE I knew who was on the ship would speak about the grandness of LRH and how clean the ship was. LOL.

Seconded. I shouldn't have LOL'ed at that poor woman screaming about her BTs all night though - but I'm afraid I did.

 

[anonomog]

I'm not hip on what kind of bottom it had, but when we went to sea, every fooking SO member on that ship was on the upper deck, sick as dogs. There was only one FEBC student, and I, who stayed on course.
I couldn't believe that ppl who were charged with sailing "the world's biggest yacht, Ron's Home" couldn;t manage to stay on post at sea. It wasn't a rough sea, even.

I shared the Aft Lounge berthing with I dunno how many ppl. Maybe close to a hundred. We were stacked in there in tiers on boards, and we were issued one sheet. There was no locker. No place to keep your stuff.
That problem was settled for me rather quickly when my underwear and other articles of clothing was stolen by the little CMO girls.

I would have to shake out my sheet to get the cockroaches off of it, then I'd wrap up in it the best I could, like a mummy, to keep some of the vermin off of me. The noises during the night were pathetic and frightening.
One woman loudly fought BTs all night. Horrible horrible scene on the fooking Apollo.

The food wasn't all that bad. I don't eat much anyways, so the French bread and butter satisfied me. Quentin invited me to eat with him at his table, too. So I am not complaining about food. I am talking about absolute filth
and degradation.

There were SO members down in the Hold who were fail on hard TRs. They had been there for weeks, months. They were apathetic, almost catatonic. They cried hopelessly. Hubbard sent down a request to me to "get the bug off the TRs course", which I did in two days time. ( I got a commendation from LRH for that).

The Hold was full up with Spanish wine, which I was told was used for ballast. But I saw Mary Sue sitting dockside drinking from a bottle of it.

I walked into the FEBC classroom one morning and Howard Schube was demonstrating some poiint from an HCOB and he had a pushbroom that he was pushing around the floor in a circle. I looked around, and I saw that
everyone on that ship was batshit crazy, and I was the craziest one of them all because I was there. I began plotting how to get outta there post haste.

I was an utter fool to pay a Freeloader bill and go back on lines to get Tech trained. But I did.
Now I see that they have apparently cancelled my Class 8 cert, and busted me down to Class 5. Fuck 'em. Bunch of crazies.

Thank you Phenom and Travers.
Here I naively thought I couldn't be made speechless by scn again....

 

[Enthetan]

Phenomenon:

Your posts and recalled stories and insights from the old days are priceless! Keep 'em coming!

Cockroaches and "Harvest Mites" and scabies and nearly everyone seasick and CMO girls stealing your underwear, "The Mecca of Technical Perfection" indeed. Yet virtually EVERYONE I knew who was on the ship would speak about the grandness of LRH and how clean the ship was. LOL.

Perhaps it was better in the public areas?

Back in the 1980's I went to LA to do some services. I initially decided to stay at The Manor. When I went into my room, I found it roach infested. I'm talking SERIOUS roach infestation. I didn't even spend the night, I checked right out, told them they needed to clean their room up, and spent my trip at a regular motel near PAC.

 

[phenomanon]

Perhaps it was better in the public areas?

Back in the 1980's I went to LA to do some services. I initially decided to stay at The Manor. When I went into my room, I found it roach infested. I'm talking SERIOUS roach infestation. I didn't even spend the night, I checked right out, told them they needed to clean their room up, and spent my trip at a regular motel near PAC.

There is Ploicy which forbids the 'down-doing' of the Flagship. Immediate Declare if you say anything that is not complimentary about the Apollo.
There is also Policy that states that no one has ever blown the Flagship.

 

[Enthetan]

There is Ploicy which forbids the 'down-doing' of the Flagship. Immediate Declare if you say anything that is not complimentary about the Apollo.
There is also Policy that states that no one has ever blown the Flagship.

I wonder if they continued that policy to the FSO? I hadn't heard of it.

So if somebody went home and said "I counted 23 roaches in my room. There was a big one who I named Andy", he would have been goldenroded?

 

[Boojuum]

There is Ploicy which forbids the 'down-doing' of the Flagship. Immediate Declare if you say anything that is not complimentary about the Apollo.
There is also Policy that states that no one has ever blown the Flagship.

I didn't know that! Now I get it! If I hadn't been so star-struck I could have filled in the gaps. For all the folks I knew who were on the ship NO ONE spoke about how great anything was.

 

[Gib]

There is Ploicy which forbids the 'down-doing' of the Flagship. Immediate Declare if you say anything that is not complimentary about the Apollo.
There is also Policy that states that no one has ever blown the Flagship.

I would tend to think that the same policy is the same as PTS & SP.

All the PTS types are basically people who have realized the the shit no work.

And SP's are those that are willing to communicate the shit no work.

No clears, no soul astronauts,

 

[phenomanon]

Perhaps it was better in the public areas?

Back in the 1980's I went to LA to do some services. I initially decided to stay at The Manor. When I went into my room, I found it roach infested. I'm talking SERIOUS roach infestation. I didn't even spend the night, I checked right out, told them they needed to clean their room up, and spent my trip at a regular motel near PAC.

I don't know of any "public areas".

 

[Enthetan]

I don't know of any "public areas".

What I meant was, on the Apollo you had paying public coming to do the OT levels? Were the areas they slept and ate in better-kept than the "staff" areas.

Did LRH's rooms have a roach issue?

 

[phenomanon]

What I meant was, on the Apollo you had paying public coming to do the OT levels? Were the areas they slept and ate in better-kept than the "staff" areas.

Did LRH's rooms have a roach issue?

Are you serious?
AFAIK, there was no "paying public coming to do the OT levels". In 1971 the Apollo was training vessel. The only auditing that was going on was co-audit. The only ppl there were students, or staff. The name of the Company that we FEBC students were told was Operation Transport Company. The ship housed Staff, students, Int Org Offices, The Hubbards,
How would I know if LRH's rooms had roaches? I didn't have 'the rank' to enter his rooms. I imagine that there would be bloody body parts on the decks
if LRH found any insect whatsoever in his rooms.
Are you serious with these questions?

 

[uncover]

.....
I didn't have 'the rank' to enter his rooms. I imagine that there would be bloody body parts on the decks if LRH found any insect whatsoever in his rooms.

So it was strictly forbidden for the commodore to enter the rooms of LRH ? Did I get it right ?