Between 1955 and '59, the USS Cahokia shipped countless containers of radioactive chemicals from the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard through the Golden Gate, to the Gulf of the Farallones. These barrels, dubbed "special cargo" contained high level, long-lived radioactive material which carry a minimum half-life of 24,000 years. Corroding slowly over time, these barrels continue to break down, turning this once pristine environment into a toxic marine wasteland. 29 miles to the Farallon sites 29 reasons to read me my rights They say they're just barrels of "low level" waste Sinking As a gunner's mate on the Cohokia, John Gessleman's main position was to unload the drum containers through a release hatch in the ship's bottom. The barrels that didn't sink initially, were then shot several times discharging the chemical waste before they reached the ocean floor. Dead animal carcasses, once used for radioactive experiments at the Radiological Defense Laboratory, were also among the ship's contents. 29 miles to the Farallon sites 29 reasons to read me my rights We hope they're just barrels of "low level" waste Sinking Bound to a wheelchair with multiple sclerosis His wife translates his slurred, broken speech. With his good eye open and a limb left immobile He traces back the steps of his blurred, distant past.