I tried to give this photo a vintage look.
History:
Prisoners Harbor, on Santa Cruz Island’s north coast, now serves as a port of entry for visitors arriving by boat. The name of the harbor commemorates a series of events in 1830 that almost transformed the island into a local version of Australia’s infamous Botany Bay penal colony. Accounts of these events are sketchy and at times contradictory, but the following is a rough outline of what occurred.
Santa Cruz Island lay deserted for several years after the native Chumash had been removed to the mainland in the early 1800s. Fishermen, hunters and travelers occasionally stopped or squatted on its shores. After gaining independence from Spain in 1821, the Mexican government wished to expand its presence and increase its population in Alta California.
In February 1830, the U.S. brig Maria Ester dropped anchor off Santa Barbara. Its captain, John Christian Holmes, then sought out Romualdo Pacheco, comandante at the presidio, to request permission to discharge his cargo, a boatload of some 80 convicted criminals. Holmes had the license to transport the convicts to Alta California, part of a plan by the Mexican government for a penal colony.
This was not the first time the plan had been broached. In 1825, a small group of prisoners had been transported to California with the intent of “improving the morals of the convicts and for colonizing California,” according to historian H. H. Bancroft. This created a storm of protest in California, and the government eventually dropped the scheme.
