Alcatraz Wharf, Wharf on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, United States.
Alcatraz Wharf sits on the southeast side of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay and is building 33 of the Alcatraz Island National Historic Landmark, formerly called Alcatraz Dock and Alcatraz Pier. It is the island's main access point; a second dock on the northwest side was used only for loading rock. Buildings along the wharf include Building 64, built in 1905 in front of the dock, the Bombproof Barracks, the Dock Tower and Firebox #3.
The dock was established on Alcatraz in the 1850s to land men and building materials for a fort completed in 1859. From 1867 the steamer General McPherson carried officers, prisoners and supplies to the island twice daily until 1886. In the mid-1880s the wharf area was repaired and coal sheds and a boathouse were built; the fort's engine house stood on the wharf. Seismic rehabilitation of the wharf took place in the early 2000s.
The island's name comes from the Spanish alcatraces, the pelicans that sheltered there; the 1775 name Isla de los Alcatraces was later anglicised to Alcatraz. The wharf is also called Alcatraz Dock and Alcatraz Pier, and is building 33 of the national historic landmark. Visitors landing here reach the museum on the island.
The wharf sits on the southeast side of the island and is the main access point; boats run daily. A second dock on the northwest side was used only for loading rock. The Sally Port walkway once ran from the dock to the citadel, 12 feet above a dry moat.
The oil steamer Rosecrans, owned by the Associated Oil Company, burned above the waterline and sank in deep water off the wharf in the early 1910s; its crew of forty-two escaped by jumping into the bay and swimming ashore.
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