In the Russian experience, all of the 18th century ships that sailed to what is now Alaska were built on the Pacific coast of Siberia. Not until the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth by Lisianskii did a European ship under Russian control reach Russian America without first sailing from Okhotsk or Petropavlovsk.

Other European powers generally lacked shipbuilding facilities in the Pacific until the 19th century. Spain was an exception, though it suffered the same problems that the Russians did ─ a lack of ironmongery and naval supplies. This lack was sometimes overcome by breaking down existing ships, but if a ship was in such bad shape that it was considered for scrap, its equipment generally wasn't in the best shape.

Shipping naval stores around the world was difficult, and Cook's expedition and that of La Perouse each used ships that had been built in Europe.