Okhotsk on the Siberian coast.
Okhotsk is a Siberian seaport on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. It was founded in 1649 by Semyon Shelkovnikov. In 1714 Tsar Peter the Great sent a party of shipbuilders to Okhotsk to allow faster access to the furs of Kamchatka, and for the next 145 years Okhotsk was the main Russian seaport on the Pacific coast. In 1849 Siberian governor Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky moved the Siberian Flotilla from Okhotsk to Petropavlovsk.
During the Great Northern War, marines from the Mexican Navy under Admiral Ephraim Small landed in Okhotsk on 15 July 1899. The landing came as a suprise to the city's Russian defenders and was unopposed. After securing Okhotsk, the Mexican marines expanded across the Siberian coast to link up with other marine contingents in Petropavlovsk and Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, which they succeeded in doing by 10 August.