Secret Lives, the real story of L. Ron Hubbard.
Hubbard told many stories, some he got paid a penny a word for when he wrote pulp fiction. Later he wrote fiction and called it Scientology; for this he was paid millions.
To his adherents, most of them very young, he was the next thing to God almighty. He loved to tell them stories of his early life which was full of high adventure. To this day Scientology recounts his stunning exploits as a mere boy who grew into a war hero and then a messiah.
Beyond claims and assertions what was true? What was provable? Here a number of people, some who knew him best, talk about Hubbard’s life.
Ex-Scientologist story #30, Otto Roos, he sailed with the Commodore.
Who was Otto Roos? He was a tough Dutch seaman who would later become a class XII auditor. He shipped before the mast with Commodore L. Ron Hubbard at the helm. This is from Religion Inc. by Stewart Lamont:
Ron solved the problem by making his crew into slaves. Crews mutiny, but not slaves. Penalties were draconian. “Chain-lockering” was introduced by Hubbard as a punishment. McMaster remembers once being asked by the Master at Arms to come and help her. He pulled up the wedge from the chain-locker, a dank and unhealthy part of the ship into which offenders were flung without food as a punishment. Out crawled a little girl who turned out to be a deaf-mute who had been unable to write her name and had incurred the Commodore’s wrath. The bilges were another favourite punishment cell (known as “in the tanking”). Another penalty was being made to climb the dizzy heights to the crow’s nest and stay there for a whole watch. But by far the most used (and abused) of the bully-boy tactics was “overboarding” — Captain Hubbard’s version of walking the plank. It originated in Melila when Dutchman Otto Roos, then Senior Auditor, had let a line slip as the Apollo was making a botched berthing. Roos is now a rich businessman. His macho manner and tough-guy approach meant that he was rarely on the side of those who were bullied. He discovered the traumatic effects of overboarding on some and declares that he ordered it stopped forthwith. But it didn’t prevent McMaster being put overboard four times. The fifth and last time was on 5 November 1969. It was the last straw and when he went ashore he vowed to quit. A young lady chaplain had come to fetch McMaster from the hold because Hubbard wanted to present him with something on the poop deck to “honour all he had done.” He says he knew right away it was a Judas kiss and Hubbard accused him of betrayal. His daughter Diana (who occupied a senior position on Apollo) read out a list of “high crimes” which McMaster says were all lies, and then eight burly Scientologists flung him overboard. He broke his shoulder in the fall.
Otto Roos has written a diary of those years on board ship. It is peppered with org-speak, but it is a fascinating insight into the period which is now idealized by Scientologists as a golden period when Ron was developing his higher tech and sailing around the Mediterranean discovering archaeological sites where he had lived in his past lives.
Above Otto Roos with other Scientologist in 1968.
Roos eventually found out that his idol Hubbard had feet of clay and left the commode to his own devices. If you want to read some insights on the REAL L. Ron Hubbard, and not the pabulum that Scientology hands out read his story. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/roos/roos-books.html
Androvillans's Blog 