Arte de Navegar, Em Que se Ensina as Regras Practicas e os modos de cartier, e de graduar a Balestilha por via de numeros, e muitos problemas uteis a navegacao e Roteiro das viagens, e costas maritimas de Guine, Angola, Brazil, Indias, e Ilhas Occidentaes, e Orientais, Novamente emendado, e accrescentadas muitas derrotas…

Lisboa, Antonia Rodrigues Galhardo, 1819, wood engraved device to title, numerous diagrams in text, rebound in brown half calf, a.e.g., new end papers, 4to

Pimentel 1650-1719 was the Chief Cosmographer of Portugal. This work is a reprint of the 1712 edition of Art of Sailing.

Throughout the 16th and early 17th centuries, having gained experience through recurrent explorations of the Atlantic and Africa, the Portuguese were the most accomplished and expert seamen, and their experience and knowledge of navigation was well sought after. With “the help of God” and the concise (and imprecise) instructions borrowed from locals, the Portuguese navigators progressively became quite familiar with the waters bordering Champa and Cochinchina.

If the earliest Portuguese rutter of Francisco Rodrigues comprised just eight markers for the route between Melaka and Hainan, the mid-17th century rutters of Francisco Pires comprised triple that amount of markers and descriptions. The itineraries continued to increase in information, slowly becoming slightly more furnished and descriptive, with new landmarks noted down (i.e. Cinco Chagas, Rao Rao, Sidrao, Sinco Irmas, Isla de Caranguejo, Comori), with visual portrayals and nuanced descriptions of coastal locations and navigational hazards, as well as with depths and distances, and personal comments about local conditions and tides. Although not being precise navigation compared to later 19th century standards, these earlier rutters were starting to improve progressively from what had been available up until then.