Seafaring

Waghenaer 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. 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 of maritime charts and sailing instructions Waghenaer gained from these contacts were of great influence on his later work. After his seafaring career he worked in the port of Enkhuizen, as collector of maritime dues.

Cartography

His first publication, Spieghel der zeevaerdt ("Mariner's mirror"), appeared in 1584.^[2] 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 nautical cartography, and was an immediate success. A second part was published the next year and was reprinted several times, and translated into English, German, Latin, and French.^[3]

In 1592, his second pilot book, Thresoor der zeevaert ("Treasure of navigation"), was published.^[4] His third and last publication, Enchuyser zeecaertboeck ("Enkhuizen sea-chart-book"), was released in 1598.^[5]