Freewinds

The MV Freewinds is a cruise ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology and their front corporations. Built in Finland in 1968, she was sold to a Church of Scientology-controlled company in 1985. Aboard the Freewinds, Scientologists are able to take many courses ranging from a one-week course costing nearly $5,000 to the "New OT VIII" course, costing $10,000. While this ship normally sails year-round for Scientologists to take high level courses, she is currently dry-docked and sealed due to extensive contamination with blue asbestos, a highly carcinogenic insulator.

Countless Scientologists have been exposed to the blue asbestos aboard the Freewinds, yet the Church of Scientology continues to hide this fact from their membership.

The History of Freewinds

Built in 1968, the ship (formerly the MS Bohéme) was originally intended to act as a car ferry between Bremerhaven, Germany and Harwich, UK. The ferry service was largely unprofitable, so the ship was sold to Commodore Cruise Line and altered to become a cruise ship.

Between 1970-1986, the ship regularly sailed from Miami to Cape Hatien. There were many issues with an inadequite air conditioning system at the time and the ship was eventually sent back to Europe to be fitted with a new air conditioner. Later, the company who owned the ship was bought by a Panamanian corporation and completely re-staffed.

In September 1986, the boat was sold to San Donato Properties Corporation, Panama (Majestic Cruise Line) for $10 million. They renamed this ship Freewinds and Majestic Cruise Lines operated it for the Church of Scientology. The Flag Ship Service Organization is a unique church of Scientology which is located aboard the Motor Vessel Freewinds, with the home port of Curaçao. The ship was acquired shortly before the release of the highest advanced auditing level currently available, New OT VIII. The plans for the ship were ambitious: They wanted to convert a restaurant space into course rooms for the delivery of OT VIII and to convert a lounge area into a restaurant. All of the cabins were to be upgraded and in some cases two or more cabins brought together to make suites. Some cabins were converted into offices for the IAS (International Association of Scientologists). In short, every space of the ship was to be converted or remodelled in some way. http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/boheme_1968_ex.htm

The ownership and management of the vessel was organized through a complicated web of Scientology-run corporations and entities, most of which are owned by the Flag Ship Trust. It is owned by San Donate Properties, a Panamanian corporation of which Flag Ship Trust is the sole shareholder. Another Flag Ship Trust-owned Panamanian corporation, Transcorp Services, owns the mortgage on the Freewinds. Flag Ship Service Organization was a Netherlands Antilles corporation responsible for paying certain taxes on the vessel to the Netherlands Antilles authorities. Scientology courses are delivered aboard the vessel by the Flag Ship Service Organization, in effect a floating branch of the Church of Scientology. Majestic Cruise Lines is a Panamanian corporation which operates the Freewinds, receiving payment from FSSO for the use of the ship. MCL Services is a Netherlands Antilles corporation which provides shore support and liaison services for Majestic Cruise Lines and Flag Ship Service Organization from the Freewinds' home port, Curaçao.

Following the Church of Scientology's controversial tax exemption agreement with the United States Internal Revenue Service in 1993, these arrangements were simplified. Majestic Cruise Lines' responsibilities were to be transferred to Flag Ship Service Organization, with Majestic itself being dissolved, and Flag Ship Service Organization was dissolved as it was no longer required for Netherlands Antilles tax reporting purposes. However, Majestic remains in existence and is still actively billing visitors to the Freewinds.

Life aboard the Freewinds

The ship acts as a training ground for OT VIII, lower-level classes, and auditing services. She is also used as a recreational vessel for Scientologists, including celebrities such as Tom Cruise. The ship hosts a "Freewinds Maiden Voyage" each July as an "OT Summit" for high-ranking Scientologists at which Scientology accomplishments and plans for the future are publicly celebrated. The ship also hosts events for local non-Scientologist visitors.

A significant portion of the ship is given over to its use as a religious retreat for Scientologists. As well as various course rooms and a library of Hubbard books, the Freewinds has areas dedicated to the Religious Technology Center, Sea Org, and International Association of Scientologists. As is common practice in other Scientology organizations, the ship also has an "LRH Office" symbolically set aside for Hubbard's use.

Asbestos Aboard the Freewinds

In April 2008, the Freewinds was shut down after cancer-causing blue asbestos was discovered during maintenance by the Curacao Drydock Company. Blue asbestos is the most dangerous form of asbestos, and the ship is reported to be "extensively contaminated". According to InsuranceNewsNet, "Decontamination, if it is even possible, is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars and would result in the ship being in dry dock for many months." The discovery confirmed a 2001 allegation by former Scientologist Lawrence Woodcraft, who had overseen the original renovation of the Freewinds in 1987. The Captain also admitted that during previous maintenance performed by his personnel, asbestos was released into the ventilation system but not reported.

The inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses, including mesothelioma and asbestosis. Since the mid 1980s, the use of asbestos has been banned in many countries.

Crocidolite ("blue") asbestos, like all other forms of industrial asbestos, has produced tumors in animals. Mesotheliomas have been observed in people who were occupationally exposed to crocidolite, family members of the occupationally exposed, and residents who lived close to asbestos factories and mines. Blue asbestos is commonly thought of as the most dangerous type of asbestos.

Asbestos exposure becomes a health concern when high concentrations of asbestos fibers are inhaled over a long time period. People who become ill from asbestos are almost always those who are exposed on a day-to-day basis in a job where they work directly with the material. As a person's exposure to fibers increases, either by breathing more fibers or by breathing fibers for a longer time, that person's risk of disease also increases. Disease is very unlikely to result from a single, high-level exposure, or from a short period of exposure to lower levels.

Other asbestos-related diseases:

* Asbestos warts : caused when the sharp fibers lodge in the skin and are overgrown causing benign callus-like growths.

* Pleural plaques : discrete fibrous or partially calcified thickened area which can be seen on X-rays of individuals exposed to asbestos. They do not become malignant or cause other lung impairment.

* Diffuse pleural thickening : similar to above and can sometimes be associated with asbestosis. Usually no symptoms shown but if extensive can cause lung impairment.

Asbestos as a contaminant:

Most respirable asbestos fibers are invisible to the unaided human eye because their size is about 3.0-20.0 µm in length and can be as thin as 0.01 µm. Human hair ranges in size from 17 to 181 µm in width. Fibers ultimately form because when these minerals originally cooled and crystallized, they formed by the polymeric molecules lining up parallel with each other and forming oriented crystal lattices. These crystals thus have three cleavage planes, just as other minerals and gemstones have. But in their case, there are two cleavage planes that are much weaker than the third direction. When sufficient force is applied, they tend to break along their weakest directions, resulting in a linear fragmentation pattern and hence a fibrous form. This fracture process can keep occurring and one larger asbestos fiber can ultimately become the source of hundreds of much thinner and smaller fibers.

As asbestos fibers get smaller and lighter, the more easily they become airborne and human respiratory exposures can result. Fibers will eventually settle but may be re-suspended by air currents or other movement.

Friability of a product containing asbestos means that it is so soft and weak in structure that it can be broken with simple finger crushing pressure. Friable materials are of the most initial concern due to their ease of damage. The forces or conditions of usage that come into intimate contact with most non-friable materials containing asbestos are substantially higher than finger pressure.

An unknown number of Scientologists have been exposed to the blue asbestos aboard the Freewinds and may be at severe risk of cancer. The Church of Scientology has not informed their members that they are at risk.

Where is it now?

Currently, the MS Freewinds is still sealed, in drydock, and under inspection for asbestos cleanup and removal. According to InsuranceNewsNet, "Decontamination, if it is even possible, is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars and would result in the ship being in dry dock for many months."

The future of the Freewinds

The future of the MV Freewinds is a costly one. In the course of its current re-fit and upgrade, the blue asbestos has to be removed under the supervision of specialist companies. The ship's operators may also be liable for putting at risk earlier work crews made up of non-Scientologists, and especially Scientologists who were made to believe that the asbestos was not really hazardous - only because L. Ron Hubbard had not written about its dangers. The already stretched resources of the Scientology organization are now being used to bring the ship to working and class compliant condition, but it remains to be seen if liabilities from neglected asbestos concerns might lead to even more costly compensation payments.
In addition to this, the people of Bonaire are also showing concern about the composition of what the Freewinds is depositing in the island's inland waste pits.