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Today I tried to go to Alcatraz on a boat trip, however i got to the pier and the tickets were sold out until tomorrow (very popluar tour!) So I decided to go on a bay cruise, good decision. I got a pretty good view of the GGB and Alcatraz, while also getting some nice views of Bay Bridge and San Francisco itself.
Alcatraz is a prison on a small island out in the middle of the bay (as you can see from my many pics), it was home to some of the most high profile convicts from earlier this century. People like Al Capone were kept imprisoned there.
During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed no prisoners as ever having successfully escaped. 36 prisoners were involved in 14 attempts, two men trying twice; 23 were caught, six were shot and killed during their escape, and three were lost at sea and never found.[26] The most violent occurred on May 2, 1946 when a failed escape attempt by six prisoners led to the so-called Battle of Alcatraz. On June 11, 1962 Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin successfully carried out one of the most intricate escapes ever devised. Behind the prisoners' cells in Cell Block B (where the escapees were interned) was an unguarded 3-foot (0.91 m) wide utility corridor. The prisoners chiseled away the moisture-damaged concrete from around an air vent leading to this corridor, using tools such as a metal spoon soldered with silver from a dime and an electric drill improvised from a stolen vacuum cleaner motor. The noise was disguised by accordions played during music hour, and their progress was concealed by false walls which, in the dark recesses of the cells, fooled the guards. The escape route then led up through a fan vent; the fan and motor had been removed and replaced with a steel grille, leaving a shaft large enough for a prisoner to climb through. Stealing a carborundum cord from the prison workshop, the prisoners had removed the rivets from the grille and substituted dummy rivets made of soap. The escapees also constructed an inflatable raft from several stolen raincoats for the trip to the mainland. Leaving papier-mâché dummies in their cells with stolen human hair from the Barbershop for hair, they escaped. The prisoners are estimated to have entered San Francisco Bay at 10 p.m. The official investigation by the FBI was aided by another prisoner, Allen West, who also was part of the escapees' group but was left behind (West's false wall kept slipping so he held it into place with cement, which set; when the Anglin brothers (John & Clarence) accelerated the schedule, West desperately chipped away at the wall, but by the time he did his companions were gone). Articles belonging to the prisoners (including plywood paddles and parts of the raincoat raft) were located on nearby Angel Island, and the official report on the escape says the prisoners drowned while trying to reach the mainland in the cold waters of the bay. I liek to think they made it though!
Im gutted that i dint get to tour the island, however the bay cruise took us quite close to it so i got some good shots!
Bay bridge was built one year prior to GGB's opening. And it connects San Fran and nearby Oakland. This is just as big as GGB. Its actually 2 bridges connected in the middle by a huge block of concrete. There are some pics of it in the album. One cool fact about this bridge is that the concrete block support has more concrete than the whole of the empire state building in NY! Thats a lot of concrete!
I'm gonna have to say goodbye for a while, as I start my California Southbound Discovery Tour tomorrow morning, so I'm not sure what internet access I'll have. I'll keep you updated though when i can.
I'd recommend San Fran to anyone, there is so much to do here! I've really enjoyed it and am gutted to be leaving. The weather is hot, the people are friendly, the place is huge and the sights and memories are amazing! If you travel this side of the world, don't miss out on San Fran, you will regret it!
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