Editing Scientology ethics and justice (section)

=== Overboarding ===
Overboarding was a punishment started by Hubbard in the 1960s while aboard the ''[[Apollo (Scientology)|Apollo]]'' whereby a student or staff member was blindfolded, their hands and sometimes feet were tied, someone recited "We commit your sins to the depths. May you arise a better thetan!" and they were thrown over the side of the ship into the ocean, a drop of 15–40 feet depending on deck. One journalist reported an 8-year-old child being thrown overboard.{{r|atack|pp=186–7}}{{r|headley|p=123}}

{{Blockquote |text=Being hurled such a distance, blindfolded and restrained, into cold sea water, must have been terrifying. Worst of all was the fear that you would hit the side of the ship as you fell, your flesh ripped open by the barnacles. Overboarding was a very traumatic experience. |author=Jon Atack in ''Piece of Blue Sky'' from an interview with Neville Chamberlin {{r|atack|p=187}} }}

After their training on the ''Apollo'' was completed and the Scientologists returned to their local organizations, they started alternative 'overboarding' practices, including throwing people in bathtubs, hosing them down, or pushing their heads into toilet bowls.{{r|atack|p=190}}

Though the practice of overboarding from the ship ceased around 1970,{{r|atack|p=187}} [[David Miscavige]] resurrected the practice when he marched his entire staff to the swimming pool at [[Gold Base]] and made each person [[walk the plank]] ([[Springboard|diving board]]) and jump into the pool fully-clothed. After that first "overboard ceremony", Miscavige changed the venue to a "slimy pond" on the property and such punishments became a frequent practice.{{r|rinder|page=208}}