Original subtitles

San Quentin is synonymous with doing hard time...

a site of deadly escape attempts.

The department of inspections and the guards

called San Quentin the most violent prison in America.

But in 1979,

San Quentin made headlines

for the most ingenious escape

in American history.

Forrest Tucker, in spite of all the places

he had escaped out of,

he even agrees that one of his best escapes

was from San Quentin...

his masterpiece.

Some of the greatest stories ever told

start behind bars...

Locked up in the most notorious prisons

in the world,

spied on by guards

and fellow prisoners.

It takes a devious mind to find a way out.

It could lead you to freedom...

Or it could cost you your life.

But wouldn't you try

when you have nothing left to lose?

San Quentin prison.

Inmates call it "the arena"

or "gladiator school"

because of its reputation for sheer violence.

Inmates lashing out against each other,

the guards,

or really anyone.

It's California's oldest prison,

a home to desperate men,

and the country's largest death row.

In San Quentin, you will find murderers

robbers, rapists,

child molesters, burglars, larcenists,

and people who have committed every variety of offense

known to mankind.

Amongst the notorious persons

who have been housed in San Quentin

are Charles Manson,

Sirhan Sirhan...

almost every really terribly bad person

that has been in prison in California

has spent some time in San Quentin.

And all those people

had to, in some kind of way,

figure out how to navigate

and fit into that little space.

This massive medieval-like structure

is considered impregnable

with 20-foot stone walls

and a ring of guard towers manned by crack shots.

San Quentin is bordered on three sides

by a massive wall.

That's in addition to a variety of interior walls

within each of the various cell blocks.

But on the fourth side,

you just have the San Francisco bay,

which is believed to be,

as was the case of Alcatraz,

a natural barrier,

a kind of impenetrable watery barrier...

one that would mean almost certain death

to any prisoner who thought they could try

to swim to safety.

While the authorities brag

about the prison's impenetrability,

that doesn't mean prisoners haven't put it to the test.

When prisoners did try to escape,

it was usually by violent means.

In the history of San Quentin,

there have been a number

of escape attempts

that have ended very violently.

The most violent was the escape attempt

that occurred in the courthouse

in Marin County.

In the ensuing gunplay, the prisoners were killed,

a Marin County judge was killed,

and a deputy district attorney

was shot and paralyzed for life.

But eight years after this notorious escape attempt,

in 1979,

one inmate masterminds

San Quentin's most ingenious breakout ever.

The architect of this bold plan

is a 59-year-old bank robber,

Forrest Tucker.

Forrest Tucker spends decades robbing banks

and breaking out of jails.

It's a living, I guess.

In October 1978,

pushing 60,

he's once again busted and pleads guilty

to a Modesto armed robbery.

Having escaped

from 17 different detention facilities

since he was a teen,

Forrest Tucker enjoys the growing notoriety

of being an escape artist.

Some explain Tucker's compulsion

to not only rob banks,

but escape from prisons as his own desire

to tell the world... show the world

that he was a somebody.

And he was, like,

the types of Depression-era gangsters

that he had grown up reading about...

that he was a larger-than-life American hero

in a sense.

And a Robin Hood figure.

Forrest Tucker never went into a prison

not thinking about escaping.

Even at moments in his career,

when he was on the precipice of being released,

he would still try to escape.

It was just in his blood.

Forrest is already thinking

about how to get out of this jail jam.

Once an escape artist,

always an escape artist.

But this time, the stakes are higher

than they have ever been.

After all,

he isn't getting any younger.

So in October of 1978,

he was sentenced to San Quentin

to serve ten years.

At 30, ten-year term doesn't seem like too much,

but nearing 60, a ten-year term could be a life sentence.

The minute he was handcuffed,

he was trying to figure out how to escape.

Locked up in his damp concrete cell,

deep inside the bowels of the prison,

Tucker realizes his first obstacle

is just getting out of this dang building.

But just because something is a problem,

doesn't mean there isn't a solution.

You know, people in prison are...

become ingenious out of necessity.

No one escapes 17 times

just by using their brawn,

and Forrest doesn't have that much brawn left anyway.

He will have to use what he always used before...

his brains.

It is time to keep his mouth shut

and his ears and eyes open.

He eventually gets wind of something called

the prison industries workshop.

San Quentin had a prison industries workshop

that made furniture

for state and other public offices

and workshops and stuff.

The prison industries are located on the grounds

of the prison, but outside the main building.

Security there was less intense...

maybe even a little lax.

He can get a job, for example,

in prison industries... in essence, come and go

from the main prison facility

to workshops or other areas,

which were not as closely guarded.

There are problems with this plan.

The old man is locked up for bank robbery,

not jaywalking.

Prisoners like him are not supposed to have

that much free reign around the wider premises,

but the old dog is always learning new tricks,

and his latest con is just that...

being old.

Despite his reputation for slipping away,

Forrest uses his age and docile demeanor

to win over the prison officials.

He eventually gets himself assigned

to work near the wharf

where the workshops are located...

a spot on the grounds of San Quentin

with much lower oversight.

His first step towards freedom is taken.

But it is only a tiny step.

He's not sure, exactly,

what his escape route will be yet,

but being down here, away from the main building

during the day is a start.

Time to open the ears and eyes.

Tucker has access to the wharf,

which is where the prison industries are.

This is exactly the place he wants to be

as he begins to think through

how to escape from San Quentin.

But while Forrest watches what is going on around him,

someone is watching Tucker.

After all, he's not the only inmate

with a thirst for freedom.

John Waller was a lifelong criminal

and a self-styled bon vivant

and a traveling man,

and by his own description, not a working man,

and he was known as a rabbit,

and a rabbit is a prisoner who runs.

Burgeoning escape artist John Waller

is familiar with the tales of old man Tucker.

Perhaps a young buck can learn a few tricks

from the old dog.

They met.

One day, Waller was taking a break,

sitting on the bench, looking out over the bay,

and you have to see this scene

of the bay and the prison wharf

because there are pleasure boats out there,

and naturally enough, the conversation turns to,

"How do we get out of this place?"

As the two men enjoy their view

of the sporty yachts from across the bay,

it seems to Waller

that Tucker nods at the water in front of them.

Is Tucker suggesting they swim out of this place?

That's crazy talk.

Considering security

and considering their past history of escapes,

why would you put them on the prison wharf?

Well, the answer to that is because the authorities

did not believe that water escape was possible.

Tucker agrees that swimming is not an option.

He's not really sure what he's thinking,

but there's something about that water

that just feels soft to Tucker.

So they just kind of brainstorm and said,

"How can we get out of here?"

You know, and he said, "I know how to build a boat."

For the first time,

Waller has the old escape artist's full attention.

This is a crazy idea,

and the old man loves crazy ideas.

Tucker has devised a sort of philosophy

when it comes to escaping from prison,

and that is the more imposing the prison,

the more security you face,

the more bizarre the escape needs to be.

"Let's use the water.

"We can build a boat.

Nobody would figure it out."

Tucker and Waller might just be a perfect match

made in prison.

The two men agree

to sail out of San Quentin together.

Of course, there are a few more obstacles

they would have to figure out before they can set off

for a life filled with margaritas.

They've got the warehouse and the tools,

but how will they keep their plan secret?

The Pacific Ocean coming in and out of the bay

has strong tides.

If they don't set off at the right time of day,

they will never beat the currents,

and it's not like the guards in the towers

looming over them are blind to what happens at the wharf

or on the water.

How will they get the boat out there

without being spotted?

And no one is going to mistake them for a pleasure boat

in their prison uniforms.

But hell,

Forrest has gotten this far,

and the old escape artist can certainly work around

those problems...

or at least, he hopes he can.

If not,

he's doomed to spend the rest of his life

as a spectator,

looking out as the ships and his freedom

sail off into the sunset.

America's greatest prison escape artist,

Forrest Tucker, is planning to bust out

of maximum security San Quentin.

It's his most audacious scheme ever...

to build a boat

and paddle to freedom

in San Francisco Bay.

He knows he cannot do it alone

and agrees to join up with fellow inmate John Waller,

better known as The Rabbit,

a term used to describe a man

with multiple prison escapes.

They met in Waller's cell

and discussed what kind of boat

they might be able to build.

And eventually, they settle

on the idea of a kayak.

It would have a double-bladed paddle,

which means they could build up a lot of speed

necessary to get across the choppy waters.

During recreation time on the unit,

when inmates have more freedom to move about,

the two men spend some time away

from the prying eyes and ears

of the other prisoners in Waller's cell.

But while Tucker is confident in Waller's ability

to build a boat,

he believes they'll need an extra set of hands

to help build and move their escape vessel.

Tucker tells Waller

they will need someone with an escape-oriented mind

and the ability to keep their mouth shut.

William McGirk was a 38-year-old man

who had been arrested for armed robbery.

He had, in fact, escaped once from prison in 1970,

where he and some other inmates

had plugged the toilets in a San Francisco jail

and walked out during the ensuing aftermath.

That's what gets him sent to San Quentin.

It's a risk.

The more people know about the plan,

the higher the chances

someone opens their mouth at the wrong time.

Something like an escape, man, you gotta be very, very,

you know, clear about who you're dealing with,

how much they gonna talk, can they keep a secret,

and if you can trust them,

'cause you're talking about your life,

'cause not only could you get locked up in the hole

and be in the hole for some years,

you could literally get killed.

Willie McGirk was an acquaintance

or friend of Forrest Tucker.

Waller respected Tucker, and when Tucker asked

if McGirk could come along, Waller acquiesced to that

and said, "That's fine. He can come along."

Having established a crew,

the three men can now focus on the biggest obstacle...

how do you build a boat,

waltz it down to the shore,

and launch yourself into the bay

at a maximum security prison

all without the guards noticing you?

If Forrest and his accomplices

cannot find the chink in San Quentin's armor,

then all of their elaborate plans will be for nothing.

Forrest knew what to be careful about.

His whole theme his whole life was "find the weak spot."

After two days of reconnaissance,

Tucker realized that San Quentin's weak spot

was not just the prison industries'

warehouse access to the bay,

but the unmanned guard tower #4.

The particular reason that guard tower ♪4

might have been chosen to be unmanned

was because of the belief

that the wharf was safe, because after all,

nobody's going to be able to escape into the bay.

The bay, to the prison, was an iron wall.

If the men can get the boat to the bay

underneath the unmanned guard tower

without being spotted,

then they should be able to get out some distance

from shore before anyone

in the manned guard tower #5 spots them.

But first things first.

They need a boat.

And building a boat requires,

well, boat-building stuff.

The next thing was,

"What are they gonna build it out of?"

Waller worked in the prison industries warehouse,

where all of the materials that are necessary

for the building of furniture

to supply to government offices

throughout the state of California

are stored in that warehouse.

Prisoners that are allowed access to the workshops

have unbridled access to all the tools

a builder could ask for...

the perfect opportunity to repurpose the excess materials

without being detected.

After three days of collecting and hiding

the materials, Waller carefully assesses

whether he has everything they need.

So Waller took inventory

of the supplies that were available

and reported back to Tucker immediately.

Lumber, Formica, plastic sheathing,

you name it... everything we need is there.

Waller's not worried about any of the guards noticing

the supplies missing.

The volume of wood, nails, and Formica are huge,

but he and the other two co-conspirators know

that if anyone gets wind of their general plans

or catches them in the act of construction,

they will be locked up in this joint for even longer

than their original sentence.

Tucker's blueprints call for a kayak that's 14 feet long.

The keel alone is to be carved from a 15-foot Formica sheet.

Waller sets up in a dark nook

near the back of the workshop.

He and Tucker come up with a two-part plan

to keep this work secret.

In order to hide their progress from the guards,

Waller would play the radio very loudly,

but he would only work for about two minutes at a time.

He'd rush back to see if any of the guards were about,

then he'd go back to his work very quickly.

It takes Waller 15 single-edge razor blades

and countless nicks and cuts

just to shape the 14-foot keel for the kayak.

But as the boat pieces begin to take shape,

the proverbial clock begins to tick.

As the construction of the boat continues,

it becomes increasingly difficult to hide it.

The pieces become bigger.

There's only so long a 14-foot keel can stay hidden

in a prison workshop.

The men realize this entire escape plot

will have to take place in record time.

Tucker gives them less than a week.

They'll need to work double time.

We have Waller constructing the boat

according to Tucker's plans.

Tucker is going back and forth,

ferrying different items,

and McGirk is

keeping his mouth shut.

But McGirk does have an important task...

figure out the tides.

He manages to steal the tide report for the bay

out of the local paper.

Studying the ebb and flow of the water,

he reports to Tucker that their best window

for escape is August 9, 1979...

three days away.

They wanted to go as close to full high tide

as they could so that they would have the least chance

of running up against the mud on the side of the bay.

But McGirk mentions that there is a huge problem

with that date.

It is also the day the Marin County Yacht Club

across the bay will be out in full force

for their bathtub regatta.

The prisoners will not be alone on the water.

It's San Francisco Bay.

It's dotted with sailing ships

and things like the bathtub regatta.

They put streamers on 'em.

They don't wanna look like regular yachts.

It's like the idea being you're out there

in a bathtub, hence the name.

The tides are right,

but the bay will have too many lookie-loos.

Waller says they'll need to wait for a later date.

Forrest knows that if they push back

the escape any longer,

the guards will certainly discover the boat,

and their escape plan will no longer be secret.

Forrest Tucker and his co-conspirators

are desperately trying to get their getaway going...

and soon.

The best tides are only a few days off.

There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle.

One key element is that

they have to disguise themselves.

They came up with a plan

to pretend to be local yacht club members,

pilfering supplies to create their yachting outbase.

And of course, the biggest puzzle piece of all is,

will their boat snap together in a seaworthy fashion?

But Forrest Tucker did not escape 17 times

without knowing how to turn a problem

into a solution.

They will paint the boat in the colors of the yacht club

and make some jaunty little caps to blend in

with the club members.

He insists the date is set...

of course, that is if Waller can get the boat built

without getting caught.

The paddles for the kayak

were made out of just two things...

plastic tubing

and the tops of five-gallon plastic containers.

They covered the parts in a sheathing of plastic...

the kind of plastic that was used

to cover finished products at the warehouse

before they went out.

That plastic was completely waterproof.

After a few days,

it started to come together,

but not quite fast enough.

The clock is ticking.

They need to leave soon.

As the boat pods begin to come together,

it becomes increasingly difficult

to keep their little project under wraps.

They're keeping the boat in pieces

so they can manage to hide it

till the day of the escape.

Of course, who knows if the boat will float?

If it doesn't...

They are sunk.

With the boat pieces finished,

it's time to put the final touches

on the whole project.

The plan is always to assemble the boat

on the day of the escape,

but this is a large craft.

Even its components can't be easily hid forever.

So the clock is ticking.

There's no way of knowing ahead of time

if all the pieces of the boat

will fit together, if it will float,

or will it hold three grown men.

And still, there's that last nagging problem

that Tucker keeps chewing on...

even if all the other pieces of the boat

and the plan come together,

how are they going to get from the warehouse

to the shore carrying a boat

without being spotted?

The distance from the warehouse to the shore

is at least 75 feet.

Even at a brisk pace

with three men carrying the boat,

Tucker figures it will take at least 90 seconds

to get to the water.

But that's a problem they'll have to worry about

on the day of the escape.

For now, it's time to focus on painting the boat

to match the local yacht club.

Tucker manages to smuggle in

some royal blue spray paint.

As they begin to paint the kayak,

they quickly realize they will not have enough paint

to do the whole thing.

This is a problem.

A big part of the plan

is to make themselves look

as little like prisoners on a makeshift boat

as possible.

This is where Forrest uses his brain.

He's really smart at this,

and in every one of his cases,

every one of his escapes,

he always had to improvise.

He had to come up with something

based on what was there.

They will paint half of it...

the half that faces the shore.

Just before they run through the last of the paint,

Tucker stops them and pulls out three prison caps.

To blend in with the yacht club,

means not just the boat blue and yellow,

but even their clothing and a cap.

So they had their regular prison caps,

their prison jacket,

and they put the paint of blue and yellow on those too.

So anybody seeing that from a distance

would think, "Okay, these are the yachtsmen

in their boats."

The men also know that the boat will be found

after the escape,

and Tucker's ego gets the best of him here.

After all, he's not without a certain amount of pride

when it comes to his ability to escape from anywhere.

They wanted to give the boat a name,

and they wanted to give the prison officials

a little bit of a shot in the ribs,

and they named the boat Rub-a-Dub-Dub.

Now think of this nursery rhyme

that goes back decades...

"rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub,"

and that's what they were...

three men in this tub, escaping San Quentin.

The day of the escape,

everything is a go.

Tucker and his comrades made inside the warehouse

to assemble the boat

and disguise their uniforms for the escape.

With the boat ready for assembly,

McGirk determines they must sail at 1:30 p.m.,

15 minutes before high tide.

The men will have one hour to get the boat

out of the warehouse, into the water,

and outside the confines of San Quentin

before the 2:30 roll call comes up three men short.

The sooner the three seafarers can get to shore,

the more time they'll have to disappear into the wind,

and they'll need every minute they can get.

Waller gave Tucker a little nod

when he passed him on the wharf,

meaning everything's a go.

Assembling a 14-foot boat

in the middle of a prison workshop

is bound to draw attention.

The men only have a matter of minutes

to piece the boat together

and sneak it out of the warehouse

and over to the water.

McGirk and Tucker came into

the prison industries warehouse

where all the parts were

and they put all the parts together

like it was an IKEA bookcase.

Boat in hand,

the men know there's no turning back now.

Everything seems perfect for the escape.

The tide's right,

boat looks seaworthy,

guard tower #4, the one at the edge of the water...

unmanned.

But now it's time to solve

the final piece of the equation.

How the hell are they going to carry a 14-foot boat

all the way from the workshop

to the water without being seen?

San Quentin inmates Forrest Tucker,

John Waller, and Willie McGirk

are poised to make history.

They're readying a homemade boat

for a daring escape by water.

So on August 9th,

Tucker and McGirk put the boat together

from the exquisitely pre-manufactured parts.

Now they have to get the boat out of the warehouse

over to the water.

This is the part of the plan

that Tucker has never been able to fully puzzle out...

the trip to the shore from the warehouse.

It's a long, long walk

off the proverbial short pier.

If they are spotted trying to escape,

they will be shown no mercy.

So San Quentin, they have a thing that says,

"No warning shots," which means,

"We don't have to give you a warning

that we're gonna shoot you."

So they literally have the authority to shoot to kill,

and they have shot and killed several people.

Even though guard tower #4 is unmanned,

there are inmates just waiting for any opportunity

to better their situation.

You always wanna be aware of the fact

that somebody might tell,

because people are looking for favors in prison,

and then, there's just guys that are informants

for the police, and those guys

just lookin' for stuff to tell.

But if Tucker has learned one thing over the years,

when it comes to skedaddling,

sometimes it's better to be quick and uppy

than to be deliberate and smart.

He and Waller both know this part of the plan

will require a bit of thinking on their feet.

And now, August 9, 1979,

a lazy delivery driver has left his truck unguarded

at the loading dock to the warehouse.

Tucker tells Waller to check, and sure enough,

the keys are left right inside a warehouse drawer,

just begging to be stolen...

or at least, repurposed for a 75-foot journey

to the Pacific Ocean.

John Waller decided

that he would create a blocking maneuver

while Tucker and McGirk transported the boats

over to the water.

Waller steals the keys, gets into the truck,

begins driving it slowly towards the water.

Tucker can't believe it.

No one would think twice about him walking around a truck

with another inmate

as they carry some kind of heavy object.

It's what they do all day.

It wouldn't be a surprise

to see a truck moving around in this area.

It would be a surprise to see 'em hauling a kayak

by itself, but not if it was shielded

from the guard by the truck.

Incredibly, the plan works.

On the opposite side of the truck,

hidden from the view of the prison guards,

are McGirk and Tucker.

Tucker and McGirk scurry across with the boat

and put it in the water right below guard tower #4.

McGirk and Tucker stay low and hidden

while Waller drives the truck back up, returns the keys,

and then casually makes his own way

down to the water.

They can't believe it.

If it happened in the movies, you wouldn't believe it.

But now it's time to answer their next big question.

Is the boat seaworthy?

Tucker gets in first

because the gunnels were only 10 inches high.

There was some concern as to whether the boat

would be able to carry all three men.

First man gets into the boat,

goes down a little bit.

Second man gets in,

boat sinks a little bit lower in the water.

Third man gets in,

gunnels are right at about water level.

Still good. Close.

It's still good, but again, it's now or never.

The moment of truth is upon them.

They have to paddle away, so easier said than done,

because nobody knows whether this boat

is even going to last more than 30 seconds.

It might sink right there under guard tower #4.

That would be pretty embarrassing.

No one has ever escaped San Quentin by boat,

and so far, it's not looking like

their boat will keep afloat long enough

to take them to freedom.

They know that if they are spotted,

the guards will have their orders...

shoot to kill.

It takes less than two weeks

to plan and prepare,

but Forrest Tucker and his two accomplices now implement

an unbelievable scheme

to escape from San Quentin

in a handmade kayak.

They're willing to bet their lives

it will work.

And so when Waller finally gets into the boat,

there's still distance

between the water and the top of the sides of the boat,

and they start paddling away,

and there isn't a drop of water

coming in from the bottom.

Once they realize that, that this boat is not going to sink,

they paddled madly

to get out into what's called

the Corte Madera Channel, otherwise to get away

from the wharf and to get out into the channel

where other boats often were.

So that's the place where they might be seen

as just normal citizens out having a boat ride.

The conditions in the water are not they have expected.

The wind is blowing more than 20 miles an hour.

The water is choppy.

But the newest members of the yacht club

are now out in plain view of the manned guard tower.

And they know that

there's one final obstacle ahead of them.

They passed an unmanned tower,

but there's gonna be one manned tower left,

and they just hoped that their

counterfeit Marin County yacht club uniforms,

along with their boat, are going to pass muster.

They're frantically paddling.

The boat is watertight,

but the water was coming over the sides,

and they had no means to bail,

so they're frantically, frantically paddling.

The water is so choppy

that the boat begins to take on water.

And begins to sink.

This is their last choke point

in the shipping lane to freedom.

This one guard spotted them from the shore,

and thinking that it's one of the yachtsmen,

sees what's happening.

He asked them if they're okay, and then McGirk,

who is really kind of a taciturn,

quiet type person, who you don't see

very much of this, had the greatest line,

because he looked at his bare wrist...

nothing on the wrist... and he looked at the guard,

hailing them and said, "Everything's okay.

My Timex is still running."

As unbelievable as it might sound,

it works.

The guard assumes they are who they say they are.

He radios in to say that, "No,

"these are just some kayakers.

They're gonna be fine." Goes about his day.

Just as they get outside

of the San Quentin property line,

the boat sinks.

They're too heavy.

All three men desperately

cling to the boat and begin kicking furiously,

trying to get to shore.

The men make it to shore...

tired, wet, freezing cold,

but now free.

So while the plan didn't go exactly as they had hoped...

they didn't sail all the way to Australia...

they made it as far as they needed to

just outside the wall of San Quentin prison.

They are only a few yards from San Quentin,

but they are also only a few yards from freedom.

San Quentin was on the water,

but San Quentin was also surrounded by Marin.

So you would go in the water,

go a few places down, jump out the water,

and you'd be right there on the city street.

Standing on the beach with his two accomplices,

Tucker recognizes that this has been a team effort,

which is somewhat unusual for him,

but he also knows that

if he's going to finish this escape,

he needs to go it alone from here on out.

Once the we-just-got-out- of-jail adrenaline kicks in,

Tucker reverts to his lone-wolf personality

and turns and runs.

It must have been a surprise for the other two men,

or maybe not.

We will never know.

But as far as Tucker is concerned,

San Quentin has been vanquished.

Escape #18 is in the books.

It's time to scram.

I do know where John Waller went.

He took himself right down to the Larkspur ferry terminal

and called a cab, and he jumped in the cab,

and he told the cabbie that his sailboat had sunk.

That's why he was all wet.

Incredible story.

To this day, no one knows

where exactly McGirk got off to.

But with so much suburban Marin County nearby,

the three men managed to blend in quickly

and make their way out of the general area

before their escape was uncovered.

It's not until later in the afternoon

during roll call

that the prison guards realize that they are three men short.

There had been that report from guard tower ♪5

to the control tower.

He began to put two and two together.

When the guards find a kayak named Rub-a-Dub-Dub,

no one laughs, especially the warden.

California state and local law enforcement

unleash a statewide manhunt.

The boat escape from San Quentin Prison

becomes a major news story

and a major embarrassment.

The authorities are not going to rest

until they catch and punish Forrest Tucker

and his accomplices.

There is mass confusion

after they learn that these men have escaped.

This looks incredibly bad for the prison.

They kept searching the prison

because they didn't wanna give up on the idea

that they were in the prison.

They searched the hills

just outside of San Quentin across the road.

They searched the brush.

They begin a massive manhunt

while the warden begins talking about

the need to have some kind of barrier

to make sure no boats come in or out.

It's a debacle.

Part of Forrest Tucker's genius was that

he could disappear into thin air when he needed to.

As for the other two sailors,

they lacked Tucker's imagination.

Neither of them ever leave California.

So McGirk was captured in October.

He was not out very long, obviously,

and he was captured in San Rafael

near the apartment of his then-girlfriend

just a couple of months after he escaped.

Waller was captured in April of the next year,

and he was captured in Gilroy, California,

which is maybe about a hundred miles

from San Quentin.

Despite not having their ringleader captured,

the state is embarrassed enough

that they go ahead with the trial without Tucker.

But with more holes in the state's case

against the men than in their kayak,

the former escapees are absolved of their crimes

after two trials end in a hung jury.

I don't know why the jury...

juries, the two juries, did what they did,

but they were apparently amused enough by the escape

that they refused to convict them.

And after...

After two tries,

the Marin district attorney threw up his hands and said,

"Eh, I'm not doing it again."

We love the underdogs,

and how we love people tweaking the systems,

and how we're willing to forgive people

who do things that are maybe not things we agree with,

but people who do them without violence,

with ingenuity, with a sense of humor,

and with incredible determination,

which is what Waller, McGirk, and Tucker did.

Forrest Tucker makes his way east after the escape,

pulling a few grifts...

a five-finger discount here or there,

and maybe even a robbery or two.

But after that, trail goes cold.

He's not one of the greatest escape artists for nothing.

But he doesn't disappear forever.

In 1998, he bombs back up to the surface,

right where it all started in Florida.

Here, he pulls off one of his last great cons:

becoming a respectable member of society.

He goes down to Florida, Palm Beach County,

which is just south of Martin County,

which he was familiar with.

In the meantime, he had married a woman

who thought that he was an investment banker.

And when they'd go to the cocktail parties,

he'd dress nicely and talk well

and she just thought she'd married an investment banker

'cause he always had plenty of money.

But can you teach an old dog new tricks?

The answer is no.

This was not the life for Forrest Tucker.

And after a number of years with his very sedentary life,

he turned to robbing banks again.

20 years after his escape from San Quentin,

Forrest Tucker's life of crime comes to an end.

He's arrested, and on October 20, 2000,

Forrest Tucker, age 80,

pleads guilty to armed robbery

and is sentenced to 13 years.

Because of his failing health,

he goes to Fort Worth Medical Center,

part of the federal correctional institution

in Texas.

Forrest Tucker suffers several strokes while incarcerated.

He dies May 29, 2004 in a Texas prison.

It's interesting to romanticize

characters like Forrest Tucker,

and there is something romantic about him.

There really is... I mean, as a desperado.

He was like a folk hero for getting out of prison,

you know what I'm saying, for escaping.

So that was one of those kind of things

that people talked about for a number of years.

And they probably still talk about it today.

Forrest Tucker,

in spite of all the places he had escaped out of,

big, small, young and old Forrest,

that one of his best escapes was from San Quentin...

his masterpiece.

It is estimated

Forrest Tucker steals over $4 million

and breaks out of various prisons

a record 18 times over his criminal career.

I suppose, in some way,

that does make him the somebody he always wanted to be.