Several Russian naval officers known for their work In Alaska have borne this name (Williams). Krusenstern, in his Receuil de mémoires hydrographiques, 1827, Vol. II, p. 76, says:

It is much to be regretted that the hydrographic works of a naval officer, Vasilief, who was in the employment of the American Company, were lost. I have already had occasion to speak of him in the preceding article. Provided with a sextant and chronometer and with much zeal and attachment for his profession, he had during his sojourn in our American colonies made a complete survey of all of the Aleutian islands without having had specific instructions to do so. Unfortunately he was drowned in Okhotsk harbor on his return from America to Russia, and what became of his precious papers and drawings is unknown. He is not to be confounded with the Captain (Mikhail Nikolaievich) Vasilief who was sent in 1819 to explore the northern parts of the Pacific ocean and particularly Bering strait.

    Ensign Vasilief, of the corps of pilots, in 1831-82 surveyed and mapped a part of Alaska peninsula from Cook inlet westward nearly to Chignik bay. The map resulting from this survey is published by Lutke in his Partie Nautique, p. 274. Of this survey and map Lutke says:

Vasilief's map of the northeastern part of Alaska contains all possible details as to the situation of the coast and appears worthy of confidence, but in his journals which we have had in our hands we have found absolutely nothing except the data on which the construction of the map was based. Relative to places they contained no remark as to their configuration, properties, peculiarities, or their advantages, details so important for the navigator. We are, therefore able to add but few observations supplementary to his map hereto annexed.

    Rev. John Veniaminof, a Russian priest of Irkutsk, went to Unalaska as a missionary in 1824. Of this devoted and noble man all writers speak in terms of the highest praise. The writer has sought unsuccessfully for any satisfactory account of his life and labors.
    He resided at Unalaska from the time of his arrival there in 1824 till 1834, when he was made a bishop. He then went, after the custom of his church, to Irkutsk and was there invested with his sacred office, taking the name of Innokenti or Innocentius. Returning he went to Sitka and labored successfully among the Indians there for a time, and later returned to Russia, where he reached the highest office in the Russo-Greek church, becoming Metropolite of Moscow. He became blind and died at an advanced age some time prior to 1880.
    Veniaminof was not merely a noble and successful missionary, but is known for his ethnologic and linguistic studies as well. There was published at St. Petersburg, in Russian, in 1840 his Notes on the Islands of the Unalaska District, in two volumes, with a supplementary or third part on the Atkans and Koloshians. These books are standard works, and it is regrettable that they are accessible only in Russian. He learned the Aleutian language and wrote a grammar and dictionary of it, which was published in 1846. In the same year be also published a sketch of the Koloshian and Kodiak languages. All these works have been used in preparing this dictionary.