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A series of photographs showing island residents disembarking at the Van Ness Street Pier.
Candid views inside the prison launch in 1954.
The Warden Johnston was specifically designed and built for ferrying residents, perso
The Warden Johnston following her maiden launch on June 20, 1945, in the waters of Puget Sound.
For the correctional officers and their families, the only link to mainland society was by boat. Traveling to and from the island proved challenging and during periods of inclement weather, it was frightening to hear the foghorns of larger vessels closing in, and be unable to see them. Each day the families were ferried back and forth, and this routine became an integral part of their daily lives. The residents were at the mercy of the daily boat schedule, which could be problematic at times. If they missed the boat, they would have to wait another hour for the next scheduled run. In stormy weather it could also be challenging to navigate the gangplank onto a rocking deck. Kathryn O’Brien remembers:
I was afraid of the plank falling into the water when the weather was stormy, and I can remember the boat officer grabbing me by the arm and helping me into the boat. The guards always made us feel safe
In a poetic reminiscence of his travels aboard the Warden Johnston, former resident Robert Burrill wrote in a letter:
The countless adventures going to and from the island are what I remember the best. Waiting in the protective staging area near the water’s turbulent edge, we would first hear the bright sound of the Warden’s horn a
During the island’s initial years as a federal penitentiary, the primary vessel for mainland access was a boat named the McDowell, which was approximately fifty feet in length and had a seating capacity of thirty-eight. In May of 1941, pla
Farewell to an Old Friend
Early in the morning one summer's day in 1945, its sturdy and graceful lines glistening under its recent coating of paint, a newly commissioned launch floated from out the McNeil Island shipyards headed for Alcatraz where it was destined to spend most of its entire nautical career as a passenger boat between the Island and San Francisco. For 16 years it plied the waters of the Bay, as much a representative of the area as Coit Tower or the Ferry Building or Alcatraz, itself.
Constructed by prison inmate labor following plans drawn by Bureau draftsmen, the launch was named in honor of the late Warden James A. Johnston, the then beloved Chief Magistrate of Alcatraz.
The "Warden Johnston" was more than a vehicle of transportation, it was a way of life, the link to the outside world. It took the children to school, the sick to the hospital, housewives shopping, the light of foot dancing; it brought food, news, mail, visitors, doctors; in short, it became to the residents as indisputably a part of their lives as their toothbrushes. It was used as a freighter by Federal Prison Industries, as a rescue boat to sailors in distress, a gunboat in search of prisoners; it was a link in the transfer and discharge of inmates; it was one of the forces around which local activities revolved.