Herald Island is a small, isolated Russian island in the Chukchi Sea, 60 kilometres east of Waring Point, Wrangel Island. It rises in sheer cliffs, making it quite inaccessible, either by ship or by plane. The only bit of accessible shoreline is at its northwestern point, where the cliffs have crumbled into piles of loose rocks and gravel. Its area is 11.3 km2 and the maximum height above sea level is 364 m (1,194 ft). The island is unglaciated and uninhabited. It is the northeasternmost point of land in Russia, Eurasia, and the world.

The Thomas Corwin was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue-Marine and United States Revenue Cutter Service and subsequently a merchant vessel. These two very different roles both centered on Alaska and the Bering Sea. In 1912, Frank Willard Kimball wrote: "The Corwin has probably had a more varied and interesting career than any other vessel which plies the Alaskan waters."