Alcatraz is best remembered as a Federal Prison for Bird Man of Alcatraz and Al Capone, among many others. It is also remembered as inescapable. All of which is true. It has also been featured in many films and video games, most of which are pretty much not true at all.
The name Alcatraz itself is believed to refer to the pelicans, that used to inhabit the island.
What is also true, and interesting, is the oldest operating light house in the Western United States, is on Alcatraz.
Although the location of the island, in San Francisco Bay, does make it impossible to successfully escape, but it is also because of all the constant exposure to the salt water sprays that is constantly eroding not just all of the metals, but the rock, that built the fortifications.
To show that swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco is actually possible, there are some very advanced swimmers who do, regularly, make the two mile open water swim.
As seen October 2021.
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