About 50 officers' families, including more than 100 children, lived on Alcatraz, according to John Cantwell, a park ranger at Alcatraz. For them, the Warden Johnston, which traveled round-trip to San Francisco every hour, was their only means of getting to and from the island - to go to school, to shop, or for entertainment.

"Our lives were governed by the boat and the timetable of the boat", says Don Martin, who lived on Alcatraz from 1942 until he went to college in 1956. "The boat didn't wait. If you missed it, you caught the next one in an hour. As a teenager going out in San Francisco, we had to catch the last boat at 12:15 at night. Otherwise, you'd have to wait for the next one at around 6:30 a.m. I think all the teenagers missed the boat once or twice. It was inevitable."

There were also days when the students missed school because the boat, which didn't have radar in the early days, couldn't make it across the bay in the fog, Martin recalls.

"There were also semi-foggy days when the boat did run, and I can remember occasions when the boat got lost," Martin says. "The 15-minute ride became an hour and a half."

Phil Dollison remembers having to wait behind an electrified steel gate while prison guards counted prisoners to make sure no one was stowed away. Dollison lived on Alcatraz for 10 years while his father worked his way up from an accountant to an associate warden.Once everyone was on board, the key to the boat was sent down from the guard tower on a cord.

Occasionally, Dollison says, prisoners would be transported on the boat for court dates in San Francisco.

"They would always be enclosed," Dollison says. "We didn't know who the inmate was, but we knew an inmate was on board because you could feel the tension in the air."

Once or twice, Dollison watched as a prisoner, who had served his time, was released in San Francisco. "I saw one guy going off the dock and swinging his arms. You could see the freedom in him," Dollison says.

Chuck Stucker, who lived on Alcatraz from 1940 until late 1953 while his father, uncle and cousin were officers there, says that based on how much people pay for Alcatraz-related outings, there is a niche for the boat in the commercial market.

"I am sure it has a use", Stucker says. "I'm sure the public would enjoy using it as an experience. All the people I've given tours to on Alcatraz, they all walk away with happiness in their eyes."

Maia Werner
Marin Independant Journal

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