A Remarkable Collection of Rutters, 16th–18th Centuries: Derroteros que hacía el Piloto Mayor para que llevasen los jefes de las embarcaciones que iban a Indias (RUTTER Technical Note n. 6)

This Technical Note makes available a collection of forty-one rutters kept in the
Archivo General de Indias (Seville, Spain) under the name Derroteros que hacía el Piloto
Mayor para que llevasen los jefes de las embarcaciones que iban a Indias [Rutters made
by the Pilot Major for the commanders of the ships that went to Indias].1
These documents, despite their relevance, have never been fully transcribed or
carefully studied, although they are not totally unknown. In the 20th century, Jose
Pulido Rubio mentions them in his famous work El Piloto Mayor, and includes the
transcription of three of these rutters.2 More recently, Jose Maria García Redondo
has examined these documents in greater detail, wondering about their role in the
construction and development of the Padrón Real, and he has published some
excerpts of them in his text.