Mikhail Nikolayevich Vasilyev (1770 - June 23, 1847) was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n explorer and vice admiral

Vice Admiral

Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...

 of the Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...

. He is reputed for having surveyed the then little-known coast of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 as navigator. Vasiliev was sent by the Russian Imperial Hydrographic Service in 1819 to explore the northern parts of the Pacific ocean and particularly the area around the Bering strait

Bering Strait

The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...

. Certain geographic features of the Alaskan coast, like the Lindenberg Peninsula

Lindenberg Peninsula

The Lindenberg Peninsula is a peninsula on the eastern coast of Kupreanof Island, Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. It is separated from the main portion of the island by the Duncan Canal....

 and Sealion Island were named by him in the maps that were subsequently published.

In 1820 Mikhail Vasiliev on the ship Otkrytiye entered the Chukchi Sea

Chukchi Sea

Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific...

 and explored the coast of Alaska from Kotzebue Sound

Kotzebue Sound

Kotzebue Sound is an arm of the Chukchi Sea in the western region of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is on the north side of the Seward Peninsula and bounded the east by the Baldwin Peninsula. It is long and wide....

 to Icy Cape

Icy Cape, Alaska

The Icy Cape is a headland on the Chukchi Sea side of the North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. It was discovered and named by James Cook on August 17, 1778....

 and later from Norton Sound

Norton Sound

Norton Sound is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km long and 200 km wide. The Yukon River delta forms a portion of the south shore and water from the Yukon influences this body of water...

 to Cape Newenham. He was accompanied by Gleb Shishmaryov

Gleb Shishmaryov

Gleb Semyonovich Shishmaryov was a rear admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. He is reputed for having surveyed the then little-known coast of Alaska as navigator...

, who was in command of the ship Blagonamereniye. After these surveys, in which he is credited to be the first European having sighted Nunivak Island

Nunivak Island

Nunivak Island , the second largest island in the Bering Sea, is a permafrost-covered volcanic island lying about 30 miles offshore from the delta of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers in the state of Alaska, at about 60° North latitude...

, Vasiliev sailed to Petropavlovsk

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is the main city and the administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultural center of Kamchatka Krai, Russia. Population: .-History:It was founded by Danish navigator Vitus Bering, in the service of the Russian Navy...

 and returned to Cronstadt, arriving there on August 2, 1822.

Ensign Mikhail Nikolaievich Vasiliev should not be confused with navigator Ivan Vasilyev

Ivan Vasilyev

Ivan Vasilyev was a Russian explorer and navigator of the Imperial Russian Navy. He accompanied Leonty Andrianovich Gagemeister on ship Neva to explore the coasts of Alaska and the North Pacific in 1806....

 or with another Captain Vasiliev or Vasilief about whom Adam Johann von Krusenstern

Adam Johann von Krusenstern

Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern , was an admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe.- Life :...

 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... 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

Okhotsk

Okhotsk is an urban locality and a seaport at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk, in Okhotsky District, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. Population: 4,470 ;...

 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...

Vasilyev's name is spelt as "Vasilief" in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where Vasilief Bay in Atka

Atka

Atka may refer to:*Atka, Alaska, a city in the United States*Atka, Russia, an urban-type settlement in Magadan Oblast, Russia*Atka Island, an island in the Andreanof Islands*Atka Iceport, an iceport in West Antarctica...

 and Cape Vasilyev in Nunivak Island were named after him by Captain Fyodor Petrovich Litke

Fyodor Petrovich Litke

Count Fyodor Petrovich Litke , born Friedrich Benjamin Lütke, was a Russian navigator, geographer, and Arctic explorer. He became a count in 1866, and an admiral in 1855. He was a Corresponding Member , Honorable Member , and President of the Russian Academy of Science in St.Petersburg...

; Cape Vasilyev was later renamed "Cape Corwin" by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 1909. There are other geographic features in the coast of Alaska and the Aleutians bearing the name "Vasilief", but it is not clear after which Vasilyev they were named.