[Cheburashka]

1) The islands are not and never were part of Alaska, they were not included in the purchase of Alaska.

2) The U.S. has never actually claimed the islands. Russia claimed the islands back under the Tzars.

3) The treaty on the maritime border was negotiated in 1990 and ratified by the Senate and signed by President Bush in 1991.

A map of the islands:

[x]

Thanks for the map.

Bennett Island was named after James Gordon Bennett, Jr. publisher of the New York Herald, who sponsored an expedition to the area.

But Herald Island wasn't named after the newspaper but after a British ship, the HMS Herald.