I came across the following document recently, from a Sea Org member named I.E.J. Batchelor who spent a month aboard Hubbard's flagship, the Royal Scotman, later renamed the Apollo. Although he had previously extolled the virtues of Scientology to his correspondent, the British Minister of Health and fervant critic of Scientology Kenneth Robinson, Batchelor was so revolted by Hubbard's excesses aboard the ship that after a month aboard he fled, quitting Scientology and denouncing Hubbard. He was not the only one.

According to Russell Miller's "Bare-Faced Messiah", Hubbard retaliated by confiscating the passports of all Sea Org members, thus effectively trapping them aboard ship.

The letter includes a number of handwritten comments, several of which are unfortunately illegible. Where I've been able to decipher them I've included them in [square brackets] alongside the main text.

Finally, although the letter includes a plea not to publicise the sender's name, I have done so nonetheless - the letter has been publicly accessible for several years so Scientology will certainly have a copy of it.

| Chris Owen - ronthewarhero@OISPAMNOyahoo.co.uk | |---------------------------------------------------------------| | THE TRUTH ABOUT L. RON HUBBARD AND THE UNITED STATES NAVY | | http://www.ronthewarhero.org |

----------------------------------------------------------- 156 Muswell Hill Broadway, London, N.10 16th June, 1968.

Tel. No. 01-883-6385.

The Rt. Hon Kenneth Robinson, Minister of Health, Ministry of Health, Alexander Fleming House, Elephant & Castle, London, S.E.1.
Dear Sir, You may recall that I have corresponded with you before on the subject of Scientology. I have just spent about a month on L. R. Hubbard's ship 'The Royal Scot Man', (part of his Sea Organisation of three vessels), in the Mediterranean, and I may say I am much disquieted by some intimidatory acts of the Scientology Organisation against its members. This may be of interest to you, as some British subjects are involved, although - of course - they may not consider themselves to be intimidated. I certainly did.

To remain in the Sea Organisation one has, after a few days, to sign a contract, which I now quote: 'Sea Organisation, Contract of Employment, - I ______________, do hereby agree to enter into employment with the Sea Organisation and, being of sound mind, do fully realize and agree to abide by its purpose which is to get Ethics In on the Planet And The Universe and, fully and without reservation, subscribe to the discipline, mores and conditions of this group and pledge to abide by them. Therefore, I contract myself to the Sea Organisation for the next billion years. (As per Flag Order 232).' This contract, which is probably not legally binding, tends to become somewhat intimidating after a few days.

Some of the manifestations of 'the discipline, mores and conditions of this group' that occurred during my period aboard were: 1). the imprisonment of a member of the Sea Organisation in the very confined space of the aft anchor chain locker for twenty hours or more. His confinement was enlivened by an officer beating on the steel walls with a metal bar at one period, and subsequently he was douched with water by means of a hose thrust through the chain hole.

[illegible - he was supposed - illegible - Bread+water] 2). The confinement of another Scientologist in the same chain locker for about a dozen hours, until he broke down and cried to be let out. This was a British subject.

[Told by Susan Mason] [Polish - illegible - a young lad abused] 3) The ordeal of six Scientologists who were sentenced to chip rust from the bottom of No.

1 Hold for a continuous period of two days and who were to be prevented from sleeping during this time.

Also, they were to be given food and drink only at the discretion of the Master at Arms.

[illegible - for trivial reasons e.g. annoying an officer] 4). The sentencing of two young women to spend four hours on, four hours off, alternating, for five days, in the crows nest. Failure to comply would result in their being confined in the chain locker for three days _without_ food or water. All these sentences were given whilst L. R. Hubbard was aboard, the last one was ordained by Hubbard himself and was written into the Orders of the Day of the 9th June, 1968.

[which I saw displayed on the ship] I found all this extremely intimidating, and having suffered a couple of less sever penalties for misdemeanours of lack of skill and of doubt, I finally became so revolted at the degradation and enslavement that I fled from the ship (without permission) leaving my baggage behind.

The Scientology Organisation assigns what is called Conditions of Existence to its members.

From the lowest Condition up these are: Enemy, Doubt, Treason, Liability, Non-Existence, Danger, Emergency, Normal Operation, Affluence, Power Change and Power. because I have left without permission I have most probably been assigned the Condition of Enemy, this would mean that as far as Scientology goes I would be regarded as being Fair Game; that is: the Scientology Organisation would not hold it against any Scientologist for whatever they might do to me. Most intimidating. - I must request you, if you wish to make use of any of this information, not to let my name be known in connection with it.

However, if there is any further information you may be in need of concerning Scientology, then I am at your service - because I believe that the present development of Scientology is something that should not be.

Yours faithfully, [signature] I. E. J. Batchelor From: Monica Pignotti<pignotti@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Physical abuse by L. Ron Hubbard: an eyewitness account
Message-ID: <pdfh7.12581$2u.94496@www.newsranger.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 22:12:37 GMT
In article <f758becc.0108231313.2b4adab5@posting.google.com>, Chris Owen says...

>
>I came across the following document recently, from a Sea Org member
>named I.E.J. Batchelor who spent a month aboard Hubbard's flagship,
>the Royal Scotman, later renamed the Apollo. Although he had
>previously extolled the virtues of Scientology to his correspondent,
>the British Minister of Health and fervant critic of Scientology
>Kenneth Robinson, Batchelor was so revolted by Hubbard's excesses
>aboard the ship that after a month aboard he fled, quitting
>Scientology and denouncing Hubbard. He was not the only one.
>According to Russell Miller's "Bare-Faced Messiah", Hubbard retaliated
>by confiscating the passports of all Sea Org members, thus effectively
>trapping them aboard ship.
That's true. When I was aboard the Apollo the confiscated everyone's passport upon arrival and held them all in one place.

>The letter includes a number of handwritten comments, several of which
>are unfortunately illegible. Where I've been able to decipher them
>I've included them in [square brackets] alongside the main text.
What he describes sounds very similar to what I witnessed while aboard the Apollo. This should serve as a good reminder that the abuse did ~not~ begin with David Miscavige. He is only continuing a long tradition of abuse in the SO, began by LRH.

Monica Pignotti

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