Alcatraz Escape Beach Area Poster

View from the Sally Port Guard House, one of the oldest buildings on Alcatraz, of the general area on the northeast side of the island that three convicts went into the water during their daring escape. The buildings in the distance are the Officer Club ruins and the Power Plant smoke stack. As depicted in Clint Eastwood's portrayal in ESCAPE from ALCATRAZ, on June 11, 1962 Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin escaped from their cells to the cell house roof. From there, they made their way down to the rocky beach (depicted in this photo) to an area near the Officer's Club and the Power Plant. They entered the water at around 10pm on a makeshift raft manufactured out of stolen raincoats and glue. They were never seen again. Did they make it? Federal officials stated adamantly that cold water, agressive currents, and sharks made it impossible for anyone to survive the swim ashore. However, 6 months after Morris and the Anglin brothers disappeared, convict John Paul Scott went into the 46 degree water and completed the 3 mile swim from Alcatraz Island to Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. He was arrested there and suffered from hypothermia, but he had survived.