North Pacific High Sea

Offshore from the northern Gulf of Alaska, the Pacific meets a coast of high mountains, glaciers and Tlingit homelands. Maritime traders came here in the late eighteenth century seeking sea otter pelts. A Russian fort at Yakutat, established in 1796, became a base for that trade, but relations with the Yakutat Tlingit deteriorated. In 1805 Tlingit warriors destroyed the post and prevented its reoccupation.