All language subtitles for Sharkatraz.2016.WEB-DL.DSNP-English

NARRATOR: It's called
"the Rock"...

Welcome to Alcatraz.

NARRATOR: A steel and concrete
hell

for the worst of the worst.

GEORGE: There were dangerous
men.

And you had to be alert
at all times.

NARRATOR: But the waters outside
may be even more dangerous.

Guards warned inmates of sharks

cruising for fugitive prey.

WOMAN: Oh!

NARRATOR: And a new sighting
just off the prison island

could reveal there's truth
behind the tales.

SCOTT: That one big bite
changed everything we know

about great white sharks and the
science of San Francisco Bay.

NARRATOR: What did prisoners
truly face

when they stepped off the shores
of Sharkatraz?

♪ ♪

Alcatraz Island,

one of the most recognized
landmarks

inside the San Francisco Bay.

Home to some of the most
infamous criminals in history.

But the waters
surrounding the island

belong to a different
breed of predator...

sharks.

DOUGLAS:
There are about 12 to 15

different species of sharks,

half those living here
full-time.

The other half are visitors that
come into and out of the bay.

NARRATOR: Yet scientists
have said for decades

that the most notorious shark,
the great white,

doesn't hunt inside the bay

where the prison island
is located.

But that's all about to change.

2015.

On a sunny day in October,

hundreds of visitors just
arriving for a tour of Alcatraz

witness something no one
believed was possible,

less than 30 feet
from the island.

WOMAN: (gasps)

BOY: That's a great white!

WOMAN: Oh, my gosh.

It's a shark attack.

NARRATOR: A great white shark
attacks and devours a sea lion.

WOMAN: Ohh!

MAN: Whoa.
BOY: Daddy, take a picture.

WOMAN: Holy moly.

BOY: It's right under us!
A frenzy!

NARRATOR: This incredible,
one-of-a-kind event

shocks scientists.

The area outside the bay,

known as the Red Triangle,

is notorious for white sharks.

They come here to feed on seals
and sea lions.

From August through October

their numbers are
at their highest,

but this is the first time
in recorded history

that anyone has seen
a great white

feeding inside
the San Francisco Bay.

DOUGLAS: Since at least the
1880s there had been no records

of white sharks in the bay,

and it was always assumed
that white sharks

did not enter the bay.

Why they didn't enter the bay,
that was up to speculation.

And what the videos show is
classic great white shark

predatory behavior.

And what is really amazing

is that why hasn't this
happened sooner?

NARRATOR: For ocean experts
like underwater explorer

Scott Cassell,
it's a game changer.

SCOTT: Right here,
just yards away,

is where the great white shark
ate that sea lion.

That one big bite changed
everything we know

about great white sharks and the
science of San Francisco Bay,

and this is ground zero
right here.

BOY: Go for the duck.

Look, there's its heart.

NARRATOR: The sighting reignites
public fears

that deadly sharks cruise the
bay in search of an easy meal.

A fear that once kept
Alcatraz prisoners in line.

Imagine, if you will,
right up there you're a prisoner

looking out of one of those
windows on a nice, sunny day,

and you're looking at
this cute, little seal,

then all of a sudden this huge
great white shark grabs onto it

and ends its life in this
big, frothy blood pool,

how it might change
your escape ideas.

It would definitely change mine.

WOMAN: Oh, my gosh.

There's no way you could
escape this place.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: On this island prison

no inmate could escape
the legend of Sharkatraz.

Guards made sure prisoners
thought that entering the water

would be a death sentence.

TOM: From the day one
you came here,

they always had the word spread

between the prisoners
and the officers

that if you did get away
from the prison

that you would be eaten
by the sharks,

and this, we believed it,
I believed it,

everyone believed it.

This was the single most
psychological weapon

that the prison authorities
had,

was the threat of being
eaten alive

in the bay waters
around Alcatraz

by the sharks that came in
under the Golden Gate Bridge.

NARRATOR: The guards used
the prison rumor mill

to their advantage,

even telling tales of trained
sharks patrolling the island

and an especially vicious
one-finned giant

they called Bruce.

BILL: One of the wardens
told the prisoners

that they captured a shark
out in the bay,

brought him in, a great white.

They cut off one of his fins

so that he could only swim
around in circles

around the water.

PHILIP: Well,
we encouraged the belief

that there were sharks
out there in the bay,

and indeed there were,

and I've had inmates
point them out to me,

say, "Hey, Cap, look out
there."

There's that fin sticking
out of the water.

NARRATOR: But not everyone
was deterred

by these stories
of sea monsters.

Convicts on Alcatraz were
the worst of the worst,

the toughest of the tough.

MAN: 105, 107, rack 'em.

NARRATOR: They were too hard
to handle elsewhere.

MAN: All right,
they're in, lock 'em down.

BILL: I'm Bill Baker,
prisoner number 1259 AZ,

ex-prisoner from Alcatraz.

I was in for escaping
from other prisons.

♪ ♪

We were locked in our cell
most of the time,

and that was the worst part
about it.

NARRATOR: For many inmates,

the strict rules meant to change
their troublemaker ways

only made them more
desperate to escape.

BILL: I think boredom will
wear you out

in the long run.

Eventually it will
drive you mad.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In its 29-year history
as a federal penitentiary,

prisoners attempted to escape
Alcatraz 14 times.

Most were quickly
captured or killed,

but in six of the attempts,

the desperate inmates
actually entered the bay,

swimming into waters

they believed were filled
with hungry sharks.

The first escapees,
Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe.

December 1937.

After two years on the Rock,
Cole and Roe have had enough.

For them, the allure of
freedom far outweighs

any threat of sharks.

I don't want to spend
the rest of my life here.

BILL: They had some serious
time,

and they wanted to be free.

Simple as that.

I'd rather risk the sharks

than spend one more day
on this rock.

NARRATOR: But escaping Alcatraz
without a boat during winter

is nearly impossible.

The prisoners' fear of sharks
is only one obstacle.

To swim all the way to shore,

Cole and Roe will have to fight

dangerously low
water temperatures,

well below 50 degrees,

and powerful currents
forcing them out to sea.

We got to figure out
a way to get through those bars.

NARRATOR: But these
determined inmates

think they've found a way out.

Both have earned time
on a work assignment

north of the cellblock in
the model industries building.

Inside they discover a window

hidden from the watchful eyes
of guards.

Day after day
they secretly saw the bars,

filing them down until the
metal's thin enough to pry open.

They cover their slow,
steady work

with shoe polish and grease.

Then, on a foggy day in December

the inmates set out to prove
no prison is escape-proof.

When a guard leaves the men

to briefly check
other work areas nearby,

Cole and Roe get
to work busting out.

They quickly make their way to
a fence along the water line

and break the lock.

They're home free...

or so they think.

♪ ♪

Using gas cans stolen from
the model industries' building

for floatation,

they jump into the frigid bay...

And disappear.

They're never seen again.

No one knows what happened,

but most believe
Cole and Roe drowned.

SCOTT: In 50-degree water

you can die in just
a matter of hours.

Your time in that water
is very limited safely.

NARRATOR: And besides
the bitterly cold water,

there's the heavy fog
that covers San Francisco

a quarter of the year.

On this particular day,
the fog was so thick,

even searching for the men
by boat was dangerous.

Disoriented by dense fog,
pulled by powerful currents,

the escapees would likely
never reach the shore.

But for some,
including the prisoners

who remain on the Rock,
there's a question.

Could they have been
eaten by sharks?

♪ ♪

There are close to a dozen
species of sharks

living in the bay.

They come in all
shapes and sizes,

from bottom-feeding
leopard sharks

to frighteningly large
basking sharks.

Despite their enormous size,

basking sharks don't hunt
mammals;

they're filter feeders.

But one shark, regularly found
inside the bay,

could be dangerous.

The seven gill.

DOUGLAS: Seven gill sharks
can get fairly large.

They can get up to 12 feet.

As adults they are known to prey
on seals and sea lions.

They've actually been shown to
form these semi-social groups

that appear to be
hunting in packs.

But to date there are
no confirmed attacks

by seven gill sharks on people.

They are more scavengers
than they are predators.

NARRATOR: In fact,
most of the shark species

that live in and around
the San Francisco Bay

have never been known
to attack humans...

except one: the great white.

DOUGLAS: These large sharks,
3,000 pounds,

with a bite radius
of over 20 inches.

They can literally chomp
a California sea lion in half.

They can disembowel
a fully grown elephant seal.

And then, once it's dead,

take as many bites as
they want to in leisure.

NARRATOR: They've evolved
over millions of years

to be ultimate predators...

with constantly replenishing
rows of razor sharp teeth,

specialized sensory organs

called the ampullae
of Lorenzini

that hone in on the electric
impulses of their prey...

And a deadly strategy of
violently attacking from below.

Once a white shark zeroes in,

its target is in serious danger.

SCOTT: If you're in the water
with a great white shark,

he'll see you,
and you'll never see him.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Though great whites
rarely attack people,

when it happens,
it's terrifying.

In 1959 one shocking encounter
reinforced all the stories

guards had told prisoners
about deadly sharks.

It happened just four miles
from the Rock,

a brutal attack,

where they least expect it.

(screams)

NARRATOR: May 1959.

San Francisco, California.

It's a warm, sunny day
at Baker Beach,

a beautiful stretch of sand
and surf

just outside the bay,

less than a mile southwest
of the Golden Gate Bridge.

18-year-old college students

Shirley O'Neill
and Albert Kogler

have come here to relax after
a long week of classes.

The couple runs into
the cool, inviting water.

The day couldn't be
any more perfect.

♪ ♪

But that's all about to change.

They swim out past the waves,

heading into deeper,
less turbulent waters.

While Albert looks out
toward the open ocean...

Shirley sees a huge, dark shape
pass by

just below the surface
of the water...

And it's headed
straight for him.

ALBERT: (screams)

NARRATOR: The water explodes.

It's a huge shark,
close to 16 feet long,

sinking its teeth deep
into Albert's flesh.

Shirley's instincts tell her
to swim for safety.

But she can't let Albert die.

ALBERT: (screaming)

NARRATOR: As the shark bites
down again,

she swims out to save him.

Reaching around Albert's torso,

she uses all her strength to
fight her way back to shore.

ALBERT: (screaming)

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: But it's too late.

Albert's arm is nearly detached
at the shoulder.

He slips into unconsciousness.

SHIRLEY: (sobbing) Albert!

NARRATOR: Just two hours
later,

Albert Kogler dies
from his massive wounds.

SHIRLEY: (crying)

NARRATOR: The lethal attack,
right at the mouth of the bay,

shocks and terrifies the public.

SCOTT: Albert Kogler
met his demise

by being attacked by
a white shark on Baker Beach,

and if you look at that
right here,

and if you just pan
right over there,

you see how close
we are to Alcatraz.

NARRATOR: Still,
despite the proximity,

for decades many shark experts
believed this kind of attack

could never happen in the waters
surrounding the Rock.

The reason? The bay is brackish,

a mix of salty ocean water

flooding under the Golden Gate
Bridge during high tide

and freshwater coming into
the bay from inland rivers.

Brackish water is known
to be inhospitable

to ocean-dwelling predators
like white sharks.

DOUGLAS: What you would see
if white sharks

were in that brackish mix of
fresh and saltwater in the bay,

they're used to a much more
salty marine environment,

and so they would have
the reduction

of the ability to perform,

the ability for sensory
structures to work,

decreased swimming ability,

malfunctions
of the organ system,

or even failures of
the organ systems

and will eventually
lead to death.

So, physiologically,
they can't endure

being in a subsaline
environment.

NARRATOR: But then,
in 2007 and 2008,

during a Stanford University
study

following
great white migrations,

sensors picked up the tracking
tags

of five adult white sharks

crossing under
the Golden Gate Bridge.

But even with proof

that great whites
sometimes enter the bay,

until recently most experts
believed the water was too murky

for white sharks
to hunt successfully.

Algae and sediment,
stirred up by tidal currents,

usually keep the bay visibility
at just around three feet.

BOY: That's a great white!

NARRATOR: But the recent
great white attack near Alcatraz

may indicate that the waters
here are different

than we once thought.

WOMAN: Oh, my gosh.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: To find out more,
deep sea explorer Scott Cassell

is preparing to enter the bay
near Alcatraz to see for himself

what the water conditions
look like.

SCOTT: This is Spots,
The Great White submersible.

It has a flatbed, so we can put
different systems on it.

It can hover, it can search,
it can go over distances.

What this is actually
designed to do

is to be a work truck
under water.

We can tie this off, and then
it'll also be tied on the sub.

NARRATOR: Serving as
a combat diver for 15 years,

he has over 13,000 hours
of diving experience.

And so just stand there
while I blow ballast,

and you'll see the...

NARRATOR: Cassell knows what
to expect under water.

He's taken his custom submarine
across the globe

to explore the world's oceans.

Now he'll use it to discover
what's changed

beneath the surface of the bay

that could help explain
the recent shark attack.

SCOTT: You get air
in two places.

You want to double-check that?

Sound check.

SCOTT: Topside, topside.
Do you read me?

Read you loud and clear.

SCOTT: All systems are green?

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: But here, diving deep
into the waters near Alcatraz...

We got a really strong
current right now.

I'm actually being blown
with it, and this is a danger.

NARRATOR: He could get more
than he bargained for.

(machine beeping)

NARRATOR: Scientists
have long thought

that visibility is too poor

inside the murky bay
for white sharks to hunt.

But the recent sighting
raises new questions,

and Scott is hunting
for answers.

It's a risky endeavor.

All systems are green?

Dive, dive, dive.

♪ ♪

Topside, topside, we got a
really strong current right now.

I'm actually being
blown with it,

and this is a danger,

so I'm gonna come up
a little bit shallower,

trying to keep position.

WOMAN: Ditto.

NARRATOR: Stabilizing the sub,
Scott takes his first look.

Okay, topside,
I can see the bottom;

it's about 20 feet below us.

I can't believe this.

NARRATOR: The environment
inside the bay

is different than he expected.

SCOTT: I cannot believe
how clear it is

for San Francisco Bay.

This is amazing.

What's currently
happening right now,

we are experiencing
the tide coming in,

and of course that's clean
ocean water coming into the bay,

so that explains the visibility,

but what I didn't expect was
this level of visibility.

This is really clear.

NARRATOR: Historically,
visibility inside the bay

has been just three feet
or less.

Now Scott estimates he can see
as far as 20 feet,

a far more suitable
hunting ground

for oceangoing predators
like great white sharks.

SCOTT: Topside, topside,
request permission to surface.

WOMAN: You're coming up
out of the water, right?

Yes, ma'am,
we're arresting the sub.

The visibility was
surprisingly good,

which means
a visually oriented predator

like a great white shark could
easily find a surface prey item,

like a seal, and slam it before
that seal ever saw it coming.

NARRATOR: One possible
explanation

for this remarkable clarity
in the bay

may have something to do
with the weather.

There's a relationship between
salinity and visibility.

♪ ♪

When less river water
flows into the bay,

salinity is higher and the
concentration of silt is lower,

making the water clearer.

So dry weather typically leads

to higher levels
of bay visibility.

DOUGLAS: That's part
of a natural cycle

where the salinity increases and
decreases from season to season.

But what we've seen
more recently

is with the drought
in California

there has been for the long term

far less input of freshwater

into San Francisco Bay,

and that has brought
the salinity back up

to being very close to
what it is in the ocean.

NARRATOR: Another possible
explanation

for higher visibility
is tidal currents.

The salinity and clarity
of the bay

are changing constantly
with the tides.

As ocean water flows in,
the water becomes clearer.

So for inmates who are trying
to escape Alcatraz,

the exact moment
of their attempt

would have greatly impacted
their odds

of coming face to face
with a white shark.

In fact, one of the Rock's most
famous and ingenious escapes

shows the incredible importance
of timing

when it comes to
safely navigating

the waters off Alcatraz.

♪ ♪

May 1962.

Frank Morris,
a man whose prison record

once listed his occupation
as escape artist,

refuses to be kept in a cage.

Here on the Rock
he's in good company.

Fellow inmates Clarence and
John Anglin also want out.

Stories passed down about
Cole and Roe's escape attempt

more than 20 years before

convince prisoners the Rock
isn't escape-proof.

Frank Morris spent
a year and a half

planning and executing
that escape.

Good, we're gonna hit the
deadline?

Yeah, in a month we'll be
ready.

All right, good.

BILL: It was very complicated.

They had to get
a lot of materials.

They had to do a lot of things
to make it successful.

NARRATOR: The men noticed
the utility corridor

behind their concrete cell walls
leads to a ventilation duct

on the roof of the cellblock.

Night after night,
using sharpened spoons,

they quietly scrape
at the concrete

surrounding an iron grate
in the back of their cells.

Meanwhile, they make dummy heads
from cloth rags and soap...

Paddles from stolen plywood...

And inflatable rafts
from prison raincoats.

They hope these makeshift boats
will keep them afloat,

outside the reach of any sharks
they might encounter

when they enter the frigid
bay.

♪ ♪

Then, on the night of June 11th,

sometime after 9:30 p.m.,

the escape begins.

Placing the dummy heads
inside their blankets,

they crawl into
the utility corridor...

And climb up toward freedom.

♪ ♪

Once outside, they quickly make
their way through the shadows,

carrying their custom rafts,
life preservers and paddles.

They're off the island.

But now, if their timing
isn't just right,

powerful currents could carry
the men out to the open ocean,

straight into the Red Triangle,

the great white's dangerous
hunting grounds.

(underwater scream)

NARRATOR: June 1962.

On Alcatraz Island,

Frank Morris and brothers
Clarence and John Anglin

have heard tales
of the previous escape

by inmates Theodore Cole and
Ralph Roe

25 years earlier.

No one knows what happened
to Cole and Roe,

but the odds of success
weren't in their favor.

I was able to get
some hair from the barber shop.

NARRATOR: Still, Morris and
the Anglins are convinced

the risks are worth
the possibility of freedom.

After months of preparation,

the men have finally
executed their plan.

MAN: Go, go, go!

NARRATOR: And they've made it
to the water.

Pushing off into the night, the
men paddle as fast as they can.

They immediately begin to feel
the powerful current

sweeping them away...

And then...they're gone.

♪ ♪

The next morning...

Anglin! Wake up!

You're holding up the block.

NARRATOR: Guards discover
the dummy heads...

Hey!

(whistle blows)

NARRATOR:
And sound the alarms.

(alarm blaring)

But after a massive manhunt,
authorities only find

the prisoners' custom-built
escape items

washed up on shore
along the bay.

Did they make it to freedom,
did they drown,

or could they have been
eaten by sharks?

Some believe Morris and
the Anglin brothers,

using rafts to keep themselves
out of the water,

had a far better chance
of making it to shore

than previous escapees.

It's a mystery that
continues to this day.

♪ ♪

The only way to know
if Morris and the Anglins

could have reached the shore

is to know exactly what time
they entered the water.

Strong tidal currents in the bay
change dramatically

throughout the course of a day.

Using all available information
on the tides,

a team of Dutch scientists
has created a digital model

of the currents on the night
of the great escape.

DOUGLAS: If we look at
the San Francisco Bay,

we see in the middle
is this little break

that we call the Golden Gate.

That's the only area
of inflow and outflow

of water into the bay.

So if we look at the size of the
bay, it's absolutely massive.

It's a huge body of water
that at low tide

has to be funneled through
that tiny, little gap,

and so what happens is that
the water flow accelerates

and creates incredibly strong
currents out the bay.

It's a very
challenging environment

and a very dangerous
environment.

NARRATOR:
The computer model shows,

if they pushed off anytime
between 9:30 and midnight,

the powerful outgoing tidal
current would have swept them

straight out under the bridge
and into the Red Triangle.

♪ ♪

This region,
just outside the Golden Gate,

from Bodega Bay down to Big Sur
and out to the Farallon Islands,

is rich with marine mammals.

It's an infamous
great white hunting ground,

an area known for shark attacks.

DOUGLAS: The Red Triangle
is notorious,

because it's one of the highest
concentrations

of white shark attacks
anywhere in the world.

NARRATOR: If tidal currents
pulled the escapees out here,

their chance of encountering
deadly great whites

would have increased
dramatically.

It's a fact that surfers in the
Red Triangle know all too well.

♪ ♪

October 2005,
Salmon Creek, California,

a popular surf spot north
of the Golden Gate.

It's a beautiful fall morning
as 20-year-old Megan Halavais

steps onto the beach
with a couple of friends.

Paddling 150 yards out,
she picks a spot

to stop and wait for a set.

As she sits idly on her board,

her instincts suddenly kick in.

MEGAN: This kind of
weird, horrible feeling,

like a tingle in the bottom
of my spine,

and I just remember thinking,

"I really want to be over
where the guys are."

NARRATOR: Suddenly,
an enormous set of jaws

burst out from below.

This could be the end.

MEGAN: (screaming)

NARRATOR: A great white
feeding near Alcatraz Island

has revived the legend
of Sharkatraz.

What would have happened
if escaped prisoners

encountered deadly sharks?

An infamous attack
just off the coast

could provide
a frightening clue.

October 2005, not far from
the San Francisco Bay.

I remember looking
back over my shoulder

and just seeing this huge
dorsal fin behind me

and this big, gray body
and boiling water,

and the next memory I have

is just my hands pressed up
against gray flesh.

And then me, my board,

everything got yanked
under water.

And everything was gone.

I was gone, my board was gone,
the shark was gone.

NARRATOR: The giant great white
swims straight down

with Megan's surfboard leash
caught in its jaws.

Whatever it wanted to do,

it was going to do,
and I was along for the ride.

NARRATOR: Then the predator's
jaws slice through

the plastic leash,

allowing Megan to scramble
back up to the surface.

But will the shark return
for another attack?

MEGAN: I just grabbed
the first body I could get

and just grabbed them and pulled
my whole body up on top of them.

They were like, "Okay, okay,

just get on your board,
get on your board."

NARRATOR: The enormous bite,

stretching from the top
of her leg down to her calf,

has severed her muscle
to the bone,

coming within an inch
of a major artery.

Megan's lucky to be alive.

Her attack is not unique.

All along
the California coastline

surfers are one of the most
common victims of shark attacks.

But marine experts
caution against

demonizing the predators.

Based on all the data collected

on these violent encounters
so far,

scientists are confident
great whites

aren't out for human blood.

In fact, most bites seem
to be clear cases

of mistaken identity.

When they look up
and they see a surfer

on a surfboard,

that nice, long,
cylindrical body

with the flippers sticking off,

which happen to be
our hands and feet,

we look just like a prey item,

we are a seal to them,

and so they rush up with
great force of ambush,

and then they strike in,

and then they realize that
they made a bad decision

after they've engaged
their teeth.

But the damage to us is huge.

So when they spit us out,
"It was a shark attack,"

and "Oh, my God, look at
the blood, look at the injury,"

and it was just "whoops."

NARRATOR: But even though
we know great whites

don't purposely hunt humans...

BOY: That's a great white!

WOMAN: Oh, my gosh!

NARRATOR: The newest sighting of
a great white feeding in the bay

resurrects the question:

could Alcatraz escapees
have made it to shore

without being attacked
by sharks?

The last true Alcatraz escape
could answer the question

once and for all.

♪ ♪

December 1962.

Just six months after

Morris and the Anglin brothers'
great escape,

John Paul Scott thinks
it's his turn to break out.

GEORGE: An inmate
serving 20, 30, 50 years or life

has reached the point where
anything is better than this.

So they would be willing
to try anything,

almost to the point of suicidal,
to get away from it.

NARRATOR: Working
in the kitchen basement,

he discovers a window with bars

that someone else has
already partially cut.

Scott decides he's going
to finish the job.

Day after day, using anything
he can get his hands on,

including string coated in
floor wax and scouring powder,

he quietly wears away
the remaining steel bar.

♪ ♪

And when he's almost done,

he decides to bring in
a partner.

Been working on one of the
windows

in the basement of the kitchen.

I'm ready to get off this rock.

I think you should come with me.

NARRATOR: He tells fellow inmate
Darl Lee Parker

that he's getting out right now.

I'm in.

NARRATOR: All others
who've tried

were captured or presumed dead.

But will they beat the odds
and swim safely to freedom,

or will they fall victim to
the deadly legend of Sharkatraz?

NARRATOR: They said
it couldn't happen,

a great white shark feeding off
Alcatraz Island

inside the San Francisco Bay.

BOY: That's a great white!

WOMAN: Oh, my gosh.

NARRATOR: Now, this recent
sighting has people wondering

what really happened to
the Alcatraz prisoners

who disappeared.

Did they drown,

or is the legend
of Sharkatraz real?

The last true Alcatraz escape
could finally reveal

if swimming off the Rock
is a death sentence.

♪ ♪

December 16, 1962.

25 years to the day

after the first escapees
disappeared off the Rock,

a new team of prisoners,

John Paul Scott and
Darl Lee Parker,

are willing to risk swimming
through shark-infested waters

to be free.

Their chances are slim.

Not one single inmate is known

to have ever escaped
the Rock alive.

Six have been shot and killed
by prison guards.

The ones who made it to
the water were quickly captured

or presumed to have drowned.

But just after 5:30 p.m.,

Scott and Parker make it all the
way to the island's rocky shore.

At the water's edge
they blow up rubber gloves

and stuff them
into prison shirts.

The crude floatation devices may
help keep them from sinking.

But they won't protect them
from the bitter cold water

or the sharks.

But they can't turn back now.

♪ ♪

Minutes later, Alcatraz guards
discover the breach

and sound the alarm.

Boats immediately head out in
search of the escaped convicts.

Then, just over 100 yards
from the prison island,

on a small group of rocks
known as Little Alcatraz,

they find one of the men
clinging for dear life.

It's Darl Lee Parker.

John Paul Scott is
nowhere to be found.

Is it possible he survived
the dangerously cold bay water,

or did he encounter
the swarming sharks

prison guards warn
the inmates about?

♪ ♪

Finally, a call comes in.

Scott is alive and
on the San Francisco shore.

Nearly two hours
after his escape,

two young men find him
clinging semiconscious

to the rocks at Fort Point,
three miles away from Alcatraz.

He was lucky the way
the current took him right out.

50, 60 feet to the right of him

would have been right out
the Golden Gate Bridge,

and that would have been
the end of him.

He landed
on the rocks there,

just the last resort before
being swept out into the ocean,

and he was so exhausted that
he just collapsed on the rocks.

They scooped him up and
took him back to Alcatraz.

But he swam it, he made it.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: John Paul Scott's
survival is proof

that an inmate could
swim across the bay

without encountering
a man-eating shark,

and this fact has been proven
many times since.

Hundreds of people swim
from Alcatraz

to the San Francisco shore
every year.

SCOTT: The reality is, is that
the great white shark attack

probability is very low,

and there are probably swimmers
to this day

that are swimming
around Alcatraz

that a great white shark swims
right underneath them,

and there's no event, because
we're not on the prey list.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Experts believe
it's highly unlikely

any of the escaped inmates
encountered a great white shark

in the bay.

So what really happened to
the prisoners who disappeared?

Many speculate that Cole and Roe
drowned in the bay,

and as for Morris and
the Anglin brothers,

some even think they made it
to freedom.

WOMAN: (gasps)

NARRATOR: But likely no
prisoners

would have even tried
escaping

had they seen the massive shark
attack off the Alcatraz pier.

BILL: I imagine the old warden
would have loved

for a great white
to put on a show

in front of the convicts there.

DOUGLAS: If great white sharks
rediscover San Francisco Bay

as a potential feeding area,
there is a bounty awaiting them.

There's huge numbers of
California sea lions at Pier 39,

there's also an increasing
population of harbor seals

at different rookeries
around the bay.

So potentially this could be
a feeding area

that could be rediscovered
by the sharks,

and only time will tell if
in fact they stop becoming

short-term visitors and start
becoming long-term residents.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In the end it seems
that the tales guards told

inmates of man-eating sharks
hunting in the bay

were nothing more than tools
used to control the prisoners.

WOMAN: Oh, my gosh. Ohh!

NARRATOR: Yet the dramatic
white shark feeding event

off Alcatraz could change
things in the future,

reviving the legend
of the inescapable rock

some call Sharkatraz.

Captioned by Captionmax