(Source of images: Florida State Archives)

"My parents didn't let me go anywhere near that ship!" exclaimed a longtime River City resident when he saw a photo of the Hinds during a historical presentation given by the JacksonvilleStory.com website manager.  The man had been a minor when the hospital ship Ernest Hinds tied up in the vicinity of today's CSX Building.  From all over Florida, the ship attracted legions of patients with sexually transmitted diseases.  The vessel stayed at its Northbank location from July 1946 to February 1947, serving as a VD treatment center.

CLICK HERE to see a recent photo of where the Hinds docked

CLICK HERE for the Hinds as a military hospital ship, from ArmedGuard.com

CLICK HERE for lots of pics & info from the Naval Historical Center

A SHIP'S LIFE -- If you had told the former passengers of the Hinds what would become of the vessel in Jacksonville, they may not have believed you.  The Hinds could once boast of being one of the most luxurious passenger liners afloat, according to the Florida Times-Union of May 21, 1946.  It's easy to imagine well-heeled men in tuxedoes and ladies in evening gowns promenading on moonlit decks and tangoing on a dance floor. 

Before its glory days as a passenger liner, though, the Hinds began life as a U. S. Navy transport.  While under construction for the Grace Steamship Company in 1917, the vessel, to be named the Santa Teresa, was requisitioned by the Navy.  At the conclusion of World War I in 1918 & 1919, the craft was used to bring American soldiers back from Europe.  The ship measured 373 feet long and cruised at a rate of 12 - 13 knots. 

In 1920, the U. S. Government finally sold the vessel to Grace Steamship.  The Santa Teresa plied as a passenger liner between California and the west coast of South America.  In 1936, the ship was sold to Merchants & Miners Transportation Company.  Renamed Kent, it carried passengers along the Atlantic Coast. 

Although the U.S. had not officially jumped into World War II, the Army purchased Kent in April 1941 and renamed it the Ernest J. Hinds.  It did this in honor of Major General Ernest Hinds, who had been the Chief of Artillery for the American Expeditionary Forces during the First World War.  The military converted the Hinds back into a troop transport, and during WWII, it served in this function and as a hospital ship.  It was also briefly transferred to the Navy, which renamed it Kent.  The vessel's hospital fittings remained intact.  

After the conflict ended in 1945, the Hinds transported Jamaican laborers between the West Indies and Florida.  The ship was later transferred to the U.S. Public Health Service.  For seven months starting in July 1946, the Hinds was parked in Jacksonville as a treatment center for venereal disease cases.  Its patients lived onboard for about nine days at a time.  The Hinds was subsequently returned to the Maritime Commission, and it eventually entered the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia.  The vessel ended up as scrap metal in 1957.

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