Pilot major

A pilot major or pilot-major is the chief navigator of a ship or fleet. This term is mostly used to describe persons from the early modern period.

Pilots major include:

William Adams (1564–1620),^[1] Englishman appointed pilot major of five Dutch East India Company ships, one of the few survivors of the only ship of the five to reach Japan, where he became an advisor to the Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu; inspiration of the character John Blackthorne, the fictional protagonist of the James Clavell novel Shogun and its adaptations
John Davis (c. 1550–1605),^[2] English explorer, one of the chief navigators of Queen Elizabeth I
Frans Jacobszoon Visscher,^[3] 17th century Dutch explorer who served as pilot-major on the first voyage of Abel Tasman

The Navigator: The Log of John Anderson VOC Pilot Major 1640-1643 was published in 2010.^[4]

^ "From Gillingham to Japan: A tale of Miura Anjin". Embassy of Japan in the UK. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
^ Markham, Albert Hastings, ed. (1880). The Voyages and Works of John Davis, the Navigator (PDF). Hakluyt Society. p. 78. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
^ Chapman, Peter. "Tasman and a Dutch Discovery" (PDF). Australian Natural History. Vol. 20, no. 2. Australian Museum. p. 39. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
^ Enthoven, Victor; Murdoch, Steve; Williamson, Eila, eds. (2010). The Navigator: The Log of John Anderson VOC Pilot Major 1640-1643. Brill Publishers. ISBN 9789004189331.

[1] "From Gillingham to Japan: A tale of Miura Anjin". Embassy of Japan in the UK. Retrieved 20 October 2024.

[2] Markham, Albert Hastings, ed. (1880). The Voyages and Works of John Davis, the Navigator (PDF). Hakluyt Society. p. 78. Retrieved 20 October 2024.

[3] Chapman, Peter. "Tasman and a Dutch Discovery" (PDF). Australian Natural History. Vol. 20, no. 2. Australian Museum. p. 39. Retrieved 20 October 2024.

[4] Enthoven, Victor; Murdoch, Steve; Williamson, Eila, eds. (2010). The Navigator: The Log of John Anderson VOC Pilot Major 1640-1643. Brill Publishers. ISBN 9789004189331.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]