Martin de Hoyarçabal (Martin Oihartzabal in modern spelling) was a French Basque mariner. Little is generally known about his life. He was born in Ciboure, in the Iparralde, the French Basque Country. He is recognized for publishing one of the first Newfoundland pilots, a book which describes places and distances to aid sailors in navigation, in 1579. '' Les voyages aventureux du Capitaine Martin de Hoyarsabal, habitant du çubiburu'' was published in French and was widely used by French and Spanish mariners for almost a century.

Hoyarçabal's ''Navigational Pilot''

The ''Pilot'' is the only known extant work by Hoyarçabal. As a reference work, the ''Navigational Pilot'' was invaluable for ships traveling in the Newfoundland area. The following is an example taken from Hoyarçabal's work; in this text, Hoyarçabal is giving distances between several places in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

: * *With Cape S. Marie & Plaisence lying north northeast & south southeast, go 9 leagues. Further, you should know that when you will go from Cape S. Marie, along this route of north northwest, you will find a long point which is named Amigaiz, from which to Plaisence go 4 leagues, & from Cape S. Marie 5 leagues, after which you will have passed the aforementioned Amigaiz, you will find Plaisence. In 1677, Pierre Detcheverry translated and expanded the ''Navigational Pilot'' into Labourdin Basque. The following is the corresponding passage, demonstrating the looseness of the translation into Basque: *' *"Anyway, you have to know when you go that route that you will ee?a point which is called point Mehea and from there to Placença, 5 leagues from there and from point Mehea to the cape, 4 l agues oizerebecause you pass point Mehea soon Placença will be in the bay at the

starboard Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front). Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...

side".

References

External links

Bale arrantzaleak
in Basque, about Basque whalers.
Saint-Pierre et Miquelon and the Basque Country
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoyarcabal, Martin de Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown People from Labourd French sailors Basque-language writers French-Basque people French explorers 16th-century French people History of Saint Pierre and Miquelon