In the summer of 1786, a French expedition, sponsored by King Louis XVI and led by Count Jean-François de La Pérouse, reached the coast of Alaska. On July 2 the French discovered a bay that was not on their map, and they set up camp to explore the mainland. Two weeks later, ready to leave, the captain sent three boats to chart the depth of the waters near the perilous entrance to the bay. Two boats were caught up in swift tidal currents and capsized. Twenty-one men were lost in ten minutes, including two brothers from a noble French family named La Borde.

The artist, a specialist in marine subjects, captures the men’s desperate actions as conditions suddenly changed. The La Borde brothers, in the boat at the right, offer a line to their doomed comrades just before they too are swept under. At the right, gesturing from a rock, are two members of the Tlingit tribe, who witnessed the event and searched in vain for survivors, according to La Pérouse. The interaction with the French and the story of the shipwreck remained part of the Tlingit oral tradition.