Q 01/05

In which country was Vitus Bering born?

A) Denmark

B) Netherlands

C) Sweden

D) Russia

Answer · why

A) Denmark

Russians knew him as Ivan Ivanovich Bering.

Q 02/05

In which Danish port town was Bering baptised in August 1681?

A) Odense

B) Horsens

C) Esbjerg

D) Aarhus

Answer · why

B) Horsens

He was named after a maternal great-uncle who had been a chronicler at the royal court.

Q 03/05

Whose navy did Bering join in 1704?

A) Louis XIV's

B) Charles XII's

C) Peter the Great's

D) Queen Anne's

Answer · why

C) Peter the Great's

He served under Norwegian-born admiral Cornelius Cruys and rose to second captain by 1720.

Q 04/05

At what age did Bering first go to sea as a ship's boy?

A) 12

B) 19

C) 10

D) 15

Answer · why

D) 15

Before joining Russia he had reached India and the Dutch East Indies and trained as an officer in Amsterdam.

Q 05/05

Why did Bering briefly retire from the Russian Navy in 1724?

A) Embarrassment at his low rank

B) A dispute over unpaid wages

C) To run a family shipyard

D) Wounds from the Great Northern War

Answer · why

A) Embarrassment at his low rank

His wife's younger sister had just married a rear-admiral with a far shorter service record.