6. More Challenges Arise
The metal air shafts that the men sawed through were 6 x 9 inches, so there was no way that they were going to fit through them. Once they took out the air shafts, they began working on the concrete wall around it. Every night, they replaced the wall that they had chiseled through with cardboard so that no one would be able to see what they were doing. Once they got through the air shafts and out of the fortress-prison, they would have to get across San Francisco Bay. To accomplish this impossible feat, they managed to acquire upwards of 50 raincoats. These raincoats would be sewn together to form a makeshift raft.
Seeing as the men had spent many time sewing clothes for the brave boys in the military while serving time at various prisons, all of them knew how to use a needle and thread. Once they were able to get through the air vents and into the walls, they set up shop and went there to work every evening. They sewed together all of the raincoats before vulcanizing the seams with the steam from pipes inside the prison walls. They got the idea from a Popular Mechanics magazine. To inflate the raft, the plan was to use the air from Morris’ accordion. They were regular McGyvers.