Freewinds

Following delivery the Bohème sailed to Stockholm, the location of Wallenius Lines' headquarters, for a presentation to invited guests. On departing Stockholm for Miami she carried her first paying passengers on board. Her maiden voyage was cut short however, as she hit an underwater cliff outside Dalarö in the Stockholm Archipelago. The cliff breached the ship's hull and fuel tanks. Lifeboats were used to evacuate all passengers from the listing ship, and three days later she was refloated and towed to the Finnboda shipyard in Nacka for week-long repairs. After the repairs she again left for Miami, this time without passengers.[1][3]

On 7 December 1968, the Bohème left on her first cruise from Miami to Saint Thomas. During her first year in service, the ship experienced notable air conditioning problems due to its shipyard's inexperience with ships destined for the warm Caribbean climate. As a result, she returned to Europe in 1980, sailing to the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, West Germany where the air conditioning system was rebuilt, and an additional screw compressor as well as two freshwater generators were installed. Following the rebuild, the Bohème re-entered service with a Miami–Puerto Plata–Saint Thomas–San Juan–Cap-Haïtien–Miami itinerary. She followed the same itinerary all year long, becoming the first ship to offer year-round seven-night cruises from Miami. She was also the first cruise ship to call at Puerto Plata and the first to offer regular sailings to Cap Haitien.[1]

In March 1981, Commodore Cruise Line, as well as the Bohème, were sold to the Finland-based Rederi Ab Sally.[1][8] The new owners re-registered the Bohème in Panama, leading to the resignation of most of the German officers due to worsened working conditions. The resigning officers were replaced with Scandinavians.[1] The following year, the German deck and engine crews were replaced by Filipinos. Originally, the new crew members were meant for Navarino, a former ocean liner (ex Gripsholm 1957) Sally had purchased for conversion into service with Commodore Cruise Line. However, after the Navarino was severely damaged following the capsizing of its dry dock, the conversion plans were abandoned.[1][9][10] The crew already hired for the Navarino was transferred to the Bohème.[1]

Between November 1982 and August 1983, the Bohème was chartered to Brazilia-based Saitecin Cruises for cruises around South America. She also made one cruise from Miami under this charter.[1][3] Following this charter, the ship again returned to West Germany to be rebuilt, this time in Bremerhaven, where two new diesel generators were installed and much of the interior decorations replaced. While in Bremerhaven, she also received a new external livery. On returning to service in 1984, the Bohème was placed on a new Miami–Port-au-Prince–Port Antonio–Grand Cayman–Cozumel–Miami itinerary. The schedule proved to be too tight to maintain, especially in poor weather conditions.[1] With engine problems causing further problems, this itinerary only lasted until November 1984, when the ship was chartered to SeaEscape for its Miami–Freeport ferry service.[1][3]

In February 1985, the Bohème returned to Commodore Cruise Line service. Her port of departure was changed to Saint Petersburg, Florida, to better cater to the needs of Commodore's main clientele, retired people living on Florida's west coast. The ship's new seven-day itinerary was Saint Petersburg–Key West–Port Antonio–Cozumel–Saint Petersburg. The new route proved to be short-lived, as the Bohème was sold to San Donato Properties Corporation in September 1986 for US$10 million (equivalent to $26,697,000 in 2022), to be converted for use with the Church of Scientology.[1][3]

In 1984, the Church of Scientology's parent body, the Church of Scientology International (CSI), decided to acquire a ship on which to deliver high-level Scientology courses. According to a statement by the Church,

CSI believed that an ocean-going vessel would be the most appropriate facility for ministering New OT VIII because this advanced level of religious service requires a completely safe, aesthetic and distraction-free environment and because L. Ron Hubbard, the religion's founder, had researched and ministered the first OT levels aboard a ship in the late 1960s. A ship therefore would have particular religious significance to Scientologists.[11]

An entity called the Flag Ship Trust (FST) was formed in December 1985 with the aid of a US$5 million donation from the International Association of Scientologists. In September 1986, the FST purchased Bohème, renamed her Freewinds, and refitted her to enable use for Scientology purposes. Lawrence Woodcraft, a licensed British architect member of the Sea Org, was chosen by the Scientology leadership to be the "Chief Architect" of the ship. Upon arrival, Woodcraft discovered that he was not doing any design work but only producing working drawings of renderings and sketches by the "LRH Architects" Barry and Carol Stein (whom Woodcraft later found out were not licensed architects). The designs were full of functional defects, such as moving the dining room two decks up without the kitchen and replacing the existing dining room with a course room (causing disturbances from the noise from the kitchen). When Woodcraft pointed out such defects, he was overruled, and in the case of the restaurant, senior managers installed an elevator to move the food between the two levels. This required cutting through steel floors, which threatened the ship's structural integrity. Woodcraft and the chief of the renovations, Steve Kozaki, were unsure about the composition of the walls. Kozaki slammed a hammer into a wall, releasing a powdery substance which Woodcraft immediately identified as asbestos. He later confirmed it when he found the original Finnish blueprints, which clearly labeled "asbestos" all over the ship. Woodcraft confronted the Ship's Chief Engineer, Wack Alcock, who immediately denied having asbestos and claimed it was just "insulation." Woodcraft informed multiple people, who all disregarded his warnings, with the exception of Bitty Miscavige, the sister-in-law of Scientology head David Miscavige, who was given overall supervision of the project. Bitty immediately became concerned and tried to resolve the issue, but decided not to after Alcock could not find anything about asbestos in L Ron Hubbard's literature and reminded Bitty of Scientology doctrine, which held that cancer was caused by "sexual misconduct," not asbestos. Further damage was caused when one of Hubbard's writings were found to criticize fiberglass, which the Sea Org ordered the removal of all the fiberglass protecting the ship from the Caribbean sun.[12][13]

Once construction started, Woodcraft witnessed how Sea Org members with no experience in maritime engineering or interior design were brought without pay, carelessly ripping into the interiors, ventilation, and plumbing, releasing asbestos all over the ship. Many Sea Org members were covered head-to-toe with asbestos, with one individual, after being warned about it by Woodcraft, dismissed his concern and bit into the asbestos. The ship's construction fell vastly behind schedule and over budget, so Scientology management contracted "CCL," a professional ship refitting company based out of Southampton working primarily in Miami. Upon arrival, CCL Engineers were shocked and outraged by the ship's condition and the asbestos contamination, threatening to report them to the authorities. Scientology management allegedly paid CCL extra money, fearing a significant public relations issue. They compromised to have Sea Org members spray contaminated areas with water in a useless attempt to prevent the asbestos from becoming airborne. Eventually, relations with CCL broke down, and left without performing any work. It was then decided to recruit from non-Sea Org Scientologists with the necessary skills to complete the construction. The vessel was placed back into service in June 1988.[14][13]

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 FST. It is owned by San Donato Properties, a Panamanian corporation of which FST is the sole shareholder. Another FST-owned Panamanian corporation, Transcorp Services, owns the mortgage on the Freewinds. FSS 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 (FSSO), 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 corporation in the Netherlands Antilles that provides shore support and liaison services for Majestic Cruise Lines and FSSO from the home port of the Freewinds, Curaçao.

Following the Church of Scientology's tax exemption agreement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in 1993, these arrangements were simplified. The responsibilities of the Majestic Cruise Lines were to be transferred to FSSO, with Majestic itself being dissolved, and FSS Organization being dissolved as it was no longer required for tax reporting purposes in the Netherlands Antilles.[11] However, the Majestic company remains in existence and is still actively billing visitors to the Freewinds.[15]

Freewinds is the fifth ship to be owned by the Church of Scientology. The other four were Royal Scotsman (later Apollo), Enchanter (later Diana), Avon River (later Athena), and Nekambi, all of which have apparently been scrapped.[16] However, the nameplate of Diana has been preserved and is on display aboard Freewinds. The church also operated two World War II surplus ships from the late 1960s until the early 1970s. These were Bolivar, a subchaser, and T.S.M.Y. Excalibur. Both of these vessels were docked at San Pedro, California, and were used for training new Sea Org members.

Freewinds often hosts local functions in the ports it frequents, such as jazz concerts and movie performances in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. These events are usually free but often support island charities through entrance fees or suggested donations.[19] Local artists are often showcased. It also caters to different international conferences and events. The ship's leisure facilities include a restaurant, lounge, cabaret, swimming pool, movie theater and beauty salon.

The exterior design of the Bohème/Freewinds is very similar to the Finnhansa-class ships built as ferries. She has a moderately raked and slightly rounded bow, rounded forward superstructure, terraced rear superstructure and two slim side-by-side funnels. She differs from her sisters with the superstructure expanding further on promenade deck (on the other ships it only extends as far as the bridge), swimming pool added to the rear of promenade deck, and the observation lounge missing from the topmost deck; this was replaced by an open sunbathing area.

As built the Bohème was painted in Wallenius Lines livery, with an all-white hull and superstructure, yellow radar mast and yellow funnels with a wide horizontal green stripe painted on them and the letters OW (for Olof Wallenius) painted on the stripe. The ship only kept this livery until her first visit to Miami, where she was repainted in the Commodore Cruise Line livery, with white funnels and radar mast. A dark blue decorative stripe was later painted on the hull. During the 1983 refit the livery of the Bohème was more radically altered, when blue stripes were painted along the windows on main and promenade decks, as well as the bridge windows. The funnels were re-painted with a spray-shaped design in blue, red and yellow.[1][8]

Following acquisition by the Church of Scientology the ship's external appearance was changed slightly from the final Commodore livery; the Freewinds received dark blue funnels with the Majestic Cruise Lines logo on them, while an intricate combination of Scientology-related symbols was painted on both sides of the hull (pictured on the right). Additionally three decorative ribands were painted on the side of the hull towards the rear.

Members of the Wallenius family were heavily involved in the interior design of the Bohème. Margareta Wallenius in particular involved herself in the ship's interior design, having her say in the materials used and works of art brought in from promising artists in Paris. Reflecting the company tradition of naming ships after operas, all public rooms on board were originally named after themes related to Puccini's La bohème, the opera that had given the ship its name.[1]

Her sister ships were built for ferry service, and cabins were built on Bohème's planned car-decks on B- and C-decks.[1] The car decks had in fact been originally planned to accommodate temporary cabin modules during the winter when Lion Ferry, the company that had originally ordered the Bohème, planned to use her for cruising to the Canary Isles.[1][7] Additionally, a small gymnasium and cinema were added in place of the cargo hold on D-deck. All stairways and public rooms were panelled in light Nordic woods, while the deluxe cabins received dark oak panelings. During the 1983 refit, much of the original panelling was replaced by colourful paintings or mirrors to give an increased sense of space. Similarly, much of the upholstery and carpets were replaced with more cheerfully colored ones.[1]