Merchant Marine 3rd Engineer Mid Hagood Hines was born in Belleville, Conecuh County, Alabama on August 10, 1911, the son of Melvin Harrington Hines (1889-1982) and Katie Mae Arant (1891-1973). The family moved to Pensacola from Montgomery, Alabama sometime before 1930 where his father took a job as a fireman on a train. This was the same job he had in Montgomery as well. A fireman on a train in those days was the man that fed wood or coal into the boiler, which in turn heated the water to produce the steam for propulsion. Back in Pensacola the Hines family were renting a house at 1326 West Chase Street for $20.00 per month along with his siblings Leslie, Frances Juanita, and Marjorie L. Hines.
In 1934, Hagood was working for Don C. Norris as a bartender at the Blue Ribbon Buffet Bar at 122 South Palafox Street. Given its location on the waterfront, it is logical to assume that he came into constant contact with many of the mariners plying the waters of the Gulf. This may have led to his applying for his seaman's certificate on February 19, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama. Upon completion, Hagood went to sea as a "fireman" on the ship much like his father was doing with the railroad locomotives. In 1936, he shipped out as an oiler on the SS Del Norte on June 12th, arriving in New Orleans on August 19th. In 1940, he sailed as a fireman with the the SS Prusa from Penaug, Malaysia for Honolulu 12-7-1940. The following year he was aboard the SS Exeter sailing from Lisbon, Portugal to New York on September 14, 1941.
Three months later America was at war! Not only did she need her soldiers, sailors, and airmen but she desperately needed her merchant marine to transport troops and supplies to where they were needed the most! On October 9, 1942, he had shipped out as a 3rd Engineer on the SS Examelia, a 5,000-ton cargo ship with a load of chrome ore, jute, and hemp enroute to Capetown. About 20 miles south of the Cape of Good Hope she was intercepted by the German U-68 submarine and sunk with one torpedo. The Examelia sank within seven minutes killing eleven of the 51 men aboard. Hagood was one of the forty survivors who were rescued the next day. They disembarked in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and then traveled by train to Capetown.
On October 21st, they embarked upon the 11,000-ton Dutch motor passenger ship, SS Zaandam that was also carrying a cargo of 7,000 tons of copper and chrome ore plus 600 tons of general cargo. She was bound for New York with an additional cargo of survivors from the Examlier plus the survivors of several other ships sunk by the Germans. However, on November 2nd at 6:17 PM the Zaandam was struck by a torpedo from the U-174 about 300 miles north of Cape Sao Roque, Brazil. An hour later, a second torpedo was fired into her to assure her sinking! The ship was carrying 112 crew members, 18 armed guards and 169 passengers who were the survivors of the previously sunken ships, Coloradan, Examelia, Chickasaw City, Swiftsure and Firethorn. Of the original men aboard 56 crew members, ten armed guards and 69 passengers were lost. Sadly, Hagood's luck had run out with the others and he perished with the Zaandam.
Hagood's parents were notified by the War Department that their son was missing. Some of the survivors were rescued at different times to include two in a life raft 83 days after the sinking but nothing was ever heard of Hagood again. In 1945, Hagood's parents would split up with his mother remaining in Pensacola for the rest of her life. She was buried in the Bayview Cemetery in 1973. His father would remarry in 1945 to Jabez S. Hines (1900-1975) and both rest today in the Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery Frisco City, Monroe County, Alabama.
And what of the two German submarines that sunk Hagood twice? The U-174 that sunk the SS Zaandam was caught on the surface on April 27, 1943 by a Ventura patrol aircraft from Navy Squadron VP-125. The aircraft was able to drop a depth charge on the submarine sinking her with all hands lost south of Newfoundland. The U-68 that sunk Hagood aboard the SS Examlier was on her tenth patrol on April 10, 1944, when she was caught on the surface northwest of the Portuguese island of Madeira. Two American aircraft, a Grumman Avenger and a Grumman Wildcat from the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal hit her with depth charges and rockets sinking her along with 56 crewmen aboard with only one of their lookout surviving. Luckily, he had been left topside after the submarine crash dived.
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