Alaska' s the Aleutian Islands have long been attuned adoredaccustomed assembled to shipwrecks . They have been part of local consciousness since a Japanese whaling ship ran away alongagroundafar near the western end of the 1,100-mile (1,800-km) volcanic archipelagomountain river ocean in 1780, inadvertently naming what is now Rat Island when the ship's infestation ranbolted smashedscurried ashore and made itself at home. Since then, there have been at least 190 shipwrecks in the islands.