In the night of 12th June 1962 three inmates used a raft made of raincoats to escaped the ultimate maximum security prison island Alcatraz in San Francisco, United States. History is unclear about what happened to the escapees. At what time did they step into the water, did they survive, if so, where did they reach land? The fate of the escapees has been the subject of much debate: did they make landfall on Angel Island, or did the current sweep them out of the bay and into the cold pacific ocean?
Now, decades later, according to the Washington Post, a team of Dutch researchers have engineered a novel new study based on several interactive models they say solve several of those mysteries. Recreating that night, they say the three men — Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin — could have survived. But only if they left at the right time.
In this presentation, we try to shed light on this historic case using a visualization of a high-resolution hydrodynamic simulation of the San Francisco Bay, combined with historical tidal records. By reconstructing the hydrodynamic conditions and using a particle based simulation of the escapees we show possible scenarios.
Read more on the Washington Post: The Alcatraz escapees could have survived — and this interactive model proves it.
I visited Alcatraz in 1997. it was a real fascinated story I heard about these prisoners. Already before I went there I watched the movie Alcatraz featuring Clint Eastwood in the main role. The movie end in the moment the escapees set the boat on water, and there is no any further theory about what happened to them. This movie made the escape world famous and the mystery still lives.
As displayed in the movie: On the night of their escape, Butts loses his nerve and does not go with the others. Morris and the Anglin brothers make it out of the prison and are last seen paddling their raft into the night. When their escape is discovered the following morning, a massive manhunt ensues. The warden is adamant that the men drowned, despite no bodies being found. He finds a chrysanthemum on the shore of Angel Island and throws it into the bay after being told that they do not grow there.
One thing is the timing for crossing the sea regarding currents, an other thing is the quality of the boat made of raincates. Under such circumstances there is unlike that they will have survived. I had to admit that is very strange than no one has ever found traces after the men and boat, but that could also be explained by sinking in the water. I have also read in articles about rumours that one of the men`s mother has recieved a letter and flowers annually, and that the men dressed up as women to hide in a one of the men`s mothers funeral. Too good to be true that they really survived the escape?
Did they really made their way to the shore of Alcatraz Island where they inflated a raft they'd patched together out of raincoats and tarps and set sail for the San Francisco shoreline? Read answers by experts about this mystery on Interact Media: www.yoexpert.com: What happened to the three men who escaped from Alcatraz?
Stein Morten Lund, December 2014
Additional information
Read more about the movie on Wikipedia: Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 American prison film, directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood.
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