An Ice-Cold Escape

In the frosty aftermath of the escape, the bay’s icy waters surrendered only fragments of the men’s personal effects. No trace of their bodies was ever discovered. A tumble into the bay’s chilling depths, where the mercury seldom strays above the low 50s, would have spelled certain doom. Yet, the mystery of their fate remains as enigmatic as the San Francisco fog that often shrouds the bay.

Specialists have calculated that an average adult male could endure approximately 20 chilly minutes in water before his bodily functions start to falter. Intriguingly, the prison’s inmates were not accustomed to such frigid conditions, as the establishment was deliberately maintained at a toasty warmth. This made their survival in the icy water an even more daunting, if not impossible, task.