The first Russians to enter the Kamchatka Peninsula had had to travel overland from the north.

Peter the Great sends a party of shipbuilders to Okhotsk in 1714 to allow faster access to the furs of Kamchatka.

They build the Vostok in 1715, and Kozma Sokolov sails it to Kamchatka in 1716-17.

It is clear from at least 1715 that Okhotsk is a poor site.

In addition to the difficult track inland, the harbor is poor, though usable, and the short growing season and lack of arable land to plow means that food has to be imported.

Despite these drawbacks, Okhotsk will for the next one hundred and fifty years be the main Russian seaport on the Pacific, supplying Kamchatka and other coastal settlements.