(Source of image above: Florida Collection, Main Library, Jax.
Image below: Florida State Archives)
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other dockside scenes of the Hinds
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for onboard treatments (not for the really squeamish)
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for more shipboard life
Jax history buffs
easily recall vessels like the Maple Leaf,
Three Friends, Commodore, and May Garner. But the Ernest Hinds?
This ship has sunk below the depths of local history, yet it once fulfilled a
vital -- and uncommon -- role: The Hinds
ranked as America's largest & busiest treatment center for
venereal disease.
It achieved this distinction after dropping its gangplank on Jacksonville's
Northbank on
July 1, 1946. In the photo above, the vessel is shown from the old Acosta
Bridge. The Hinds docked in the vicinity
of today's CSX Building, during a time when ugly wharves & warehouses ruled the
downtown waterfront.
The hospital ship drew patients in droves. From across Florida, they
arrived and departed in buses and station wagons furnished by the State Board of
Health. Indeed, medical officials expected a yearly case load of 12,000
patients, who would usually live onboard for nine days during treatment.
The state government operated the vessel, which replaced several VD treatment
centers. One overcrowded facility had operated at
the Duval County Hospital, situated where the Shands Jacksonville
hospital now stands on West 8th Street. Other treatment centers had been
located near Ocala and in Pensacola and Wakulla. A disaster at the Ocala
facility prompted the
State to request and receive control of the Hinds to
battle sexually transmitted diseases.
As explained in the
1946 Annual Report for the
Florida Board of Health, "In April, 1946, a major fire destroyed half of the
hospital at Ocala, necessitating a curtailment in
admissions to
that center. After this catastrophe, negotiations were started to acquire
a new rapid treatment center, which finally culminated in the acquisition of the
Ernest Hinds Hospital Ship..."
(During the late 1970s, the website manager
of JacksonvilleStory.com served as a summer counselor at Camp Kiwanis, an
Ocala-area retreat for kids. Interestingly, a longstanding rumor was that
the old forest site had once housed persons who suffered from STD's
around the time of World War II. Supposedly, they had been
kept
in isolation there for long periods, and the needles used for treatments were
buried in the small earthen mounds that
still stood next to the campground.
Upon reflection, maybe the Kiwanis location had constituted one of the
treatment centers supplanted by the Hinds.)
Along with laboratories, the Hinds boasted complete facilities for
examinations,
operations, and X-rays. It was also
equipped with lounges and dining areas.
The State Board opened the ship to public inspection soon after it moored in
the River City.
According to the Florida Times-Union
on May 15, 1946, the Hinds might prove
part of a national experiment to determine the use of surplus hospital ships
from the military. The Army released only one other hospital ship for
public service, and it was assigned to New York City. The Times-Union
didn't specific what its duties were.
The scene to the left
is on the bridge of the Hinds, with William J. Reid at the wheel. Mr. Reid was a
merchant mariner who served as captain, according to the Florida State
Archives. Captain Reid kept the Hinds sufficiently staffed so that it could be
quickly moved away in case of a fire or other emergency. Apparently, at least one other person served
as skipper while the vessel stayed in Jacksonville. Leonard C.
Adams commanded the ship when it first docked here, as indicated in the
Times-Union
on July
22, 1946.
WHY
THE RIVER CITY? -- Jax played host to the Hinds for good reason:
During the 1940s, Florida sometimes led the nation in VD rates.
The national average for syphilis hovered around 45 cases per 1,000 men
examined. In Florida, however, the statistic held at about 157 per 1,000 adult
males. Alarmed, the state government tried to remedy the
situation. Among other things, it initiated intensive educational
programs, established live-in treatment centers, enlarged and improved its
laboratories, and distributed drugs to medical people who attended to indigent patients.
The state also passed more stringent premarital and prenatal laws in 1945,
requiring candidates for marriage licenses to have their blood tested, for
instance. After the
Navy expressed concerns about Pensacola's prostitution in about 1940, state &
local officials eliminated most of Florida's red-light districts by 1946.
The Sunshine State
suffered high STD rates due to several factors: (1) The military stationed legions of men here,
taking advantage of the
weather. (2) Particularly after WWII, both tourists and
homeless people came south, seeking warmth during the winter. (3)
Relatively large numbers of poverty-stricken people resided in Florida,
including migrant workers. The rates among the lower income groups tended to be
higher, according to
Millstones and Milestones,
a 1964 State Board of Health publication.
SAILS
INTO THE SUNSET -- After serving in Jacksonville for only seven months,
the treatment center on the Hinds had to shut down in February 1947.
A budget crunch proved the culprit. In its 1947 Annual Report, the
Board of Health explained that the problem had been "the lack of funds to
maintain the Rapid Treatment Center for the remainder of the fiscal year
1947..." The Board also noted,
"The lack of funds not only affected the in-care treatment of venereal
disease patients but also drastically curtained the purchase of drugs for
out-patient treatment...
We were fortunate during the year in that there were no exceptional outbreaks
of communicable diseases..."
The Board decided not
to use the hospital ship again.
Although the Hinds offered a capacity for 500 beds, it couldn't
accommodate the flood of people seeking help. According to the
1947 Annual Report, "Due to the administrative
impossibilities on the Ernest Hinds, it was deemed necessary to find a
land base facility."
The Naval Air Station at Melbourne looked like a good candidate. It had
opened in 1942 during World War II, but closed after the conflict's conclusion.
As indicated in the Annual Report,
"The Naval Air Station Hospital at Melbourne was finally secured for the
Rapid Treatment Center and the program began operating again in July (1947)."
Consequently, the treatment facility functioned in "better quarters,"
becoming the "chief bulwark in the venereal disease control program in Florida."
According to the Times-Union on July 5, 1947, moreover, the Melbourne
center proved more centrally located than the previous treatment facilities.
Whatever happened to
the Ernest Hinds? It doesn't seem to have done much of anything
anymore. The vessel was transferred to the Maritime Administration in
April 1947 and laid up at Brunswick, Georgia. A year later, it was laid up
at the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Virginia.
The ship's final days came in May 1957, when it was scrapped for its parts.
A MOST UNUSUAL SHIP