Horsens' most famous son is Vitus Bering (1681–1741), the Danish explorer who led two Russian expeditions to map the northeastern coast of Asia and northwestern North America, and who gave his name to the Bering Strait, Bering Sea, Bering Island, and the Bering Glacier. Bering was born in Horsens but spent most of his adult life in the service of the Russian tsar, dying on Bering Island (now part of Russia's Kamchatka region) during his second expedition.
The small museum in the old town tells the story of his life and voyages through maps, navigational instruments, models of his ships, and accounts of the conditions his crews faced in the North Pacific. The emphasis on what it actually took to navigate unknown coastlines in 18th-century wooden ships is illuminating. Entry is inexpensive and the museum is typically uncrowded.
story: > Bering spent nearly 17 years preparing and executing his two expeditions for Peter the Great and later Empress Anna. The second expedition, the Great Northern Expedition of 1733–1743, was the most ambitious scientific expedition of the 18th century, involving 3,000 people and costing a tenth of the Russian state budget. Bering did not live to see its completion — he died of scurvy on Bering Island in December 1741, stranded when his ship was wrecked in a storm.