Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer
Encyclopedia
Enkhuizen
Enkhuizen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia.Enkhuizen was one of the harbour-towns of the VOC, just like Hoorn and Amsterdam, from where overseas trade with the East Indies was conducted. It received city rights in 1355...
) was a Dutch chief officer
Chief Mate
A Chief Mate or Chief Officer, usually also synonymous with the First Mate or First Officer , is a licensed member and head of the deck department of a merchant ship...
and cartographer
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
who was born in Enkhuizen.
He is one of the founding fathers and most famous members of the North Holland school, which played a major role in the early development of Dutch nautical chart-making
Nautical chart
A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a maritime area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land , natural features of the seabed, details of the coastline, navigational hazards, locations of natural and man-made aids...
.
Between 1550 and 1579 Waghenaer sailed the seas as a chief officer. During these years he must have been in contact with Portuguese, Spanish and Italian seafarers. The knowledge on maritime charts and sailing instructions that he gained from these contacts were of great influence on his later work. After his career as active seafarer, he started working in the port of Enkhuizen as collector of maritime dues.
His first publication appeared in 1584, and was called 'Spieghel der zeevaerdt' ('Mariner's mirror'). This chart-book combined an atlas of nautical charts and sailing directions with instructions for navigation on the western and north-western coastal waters of Europe. It was the first of its kind in the history of maritime cartography, and was an immediate success. A second part was published the next year. The 'Spieghel der zeevaerdt' was reprinted several times, and translated into English, German, Latin and French.
In 1592 his second pilot book, Thresoor der Zeevaert ('Treasure of navigation'), was published. His third and last publication, the Enchuyser zeecaertboeck ('Enkhuizen sea-chart-book') came out in 1598.
Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer died in 1606 Enkhuizen in apparent poverty, moving the municipal authorities to extend his pension a year longer for his widow.
Literature
- (NL) Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, "T'eerste deel vande Spieghel der zeevaerdt, van de navigatie der Westersche zee, innehoudende alle de custen van Vranckrijck, Spaingen ende 't principaelste deel van Engelandt, in diversche zee caerten begrepen", Leiden, Christoffel Plantijn, 1584.