{
  "id": "nombramiento-y-preeminencias-de-los-pilotos-de-la-carrera-de-indias",
  "type": "entity",
  "name": "Two pilots to a flagship, a consultative nomination and a forum of their own: the standing of the Carrera's pilots — libro VIIII título XXIII, leyes xxxiiij to xxxxj",
  "summary": "The last laws of the Recopilación's título on the pilots give the Atlantic fleets a second pilot aboard every flagship to serve as adviser and a master able to take over if both die, require the master to carry chart, astrolabe and quadrant so the crew can learn navigation from them, fill the fleet pilot-major's place from a shortlist sent up by Seville, extend the gunners' privileges and an exclusive forum to the pilots, and close by examining the cargo boatmen of the Guadalquivir.",
  "locale": "en",
  "tags": [
    "colonial-law",
    "law-of-the-indies",
    "legislation",
    "legal-history",
    "recopilacion",
    "casa-de-contratacion",
    "navigation",
    "maritime",
    "shipping",
    "education",
    "labour",
    "professions",
    "institutions",
    "seville",
    "carrera-de-indias",
    "spanish-empire",
    "americas",
    "sixteenth-century",
    "seventeenth-century"
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "recopilacion-de-leyes-de-indias"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "casa-de-contratacion"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "piloto-mayor-y-cosmografos-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "examen-de-pilotos-y-maestres-de-la-carrera-de-indias"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "diarios-y-relaciones-de-los-pilotos-de-la-carrera-de-indias"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "flotas-y-galeones-de-la-carrera-de-indias"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "armadas-del-mar-del-sur"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "universidad-de-los-mareantes-de-sevilla"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "escribano-mayor-de-armadas-y-escribanos-de-naos"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "puertos-de-las-indias-en-la-recopilacion"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "seguros-maritimos-de-la-carrera-de-indias"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "oficios-vendibles-de-las-indias"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "veitia-norte-de-la-contratacion-1672"
    }
  ],
  "questions": [
    "How many pilots did a Spanish treasure fleet flagship have to carry?",
    "Were sailors taught navigation aboard Spanish ships, and was it required?",
    "How was the pilot-major of the Spanish Atlantic fleet appointed?",
    "What legal privileges did the pilots of the Carrera de Indias hold?",
    "Were the cargo boatmen on the river at Seville examined and bonded?"
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "c1",
      "text": "The closing laws of the Recopilación's pilot título are about standing rather than competence. Libro VIIII título XXIII, in the fourth impression printed at Madrid in 1791 by the widow of Joaquín Ibarra for the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies, is headed \"DEL PILOTO MAYOR, Y COSMÓGRAFOS de la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla, y Pilotos de la Carrera de Indias\". Leyes xxxiiij, xxxv, xxxvj, xxxx and xxxxj, read here on the printed folios 285 and 286, cover the filling of the fleet pilot-major's place, the pilots each ship must carry, the privileges of the pilots, their treatment by the fleet commanders, and the boatmen of the river at Seville. Ley xxxxj is the last law of the título: \"TÍTULO VEINTE Y QUATRO. DE LOS MAESTRES DE PLATA, Y NAVÍOS, y de Raciones, y Xarcia.\" stands across both columns at the head of folio 287.",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    {
      "id": "c2",
      "text": "Every flagship carries two pilots, and the second one's job is to disagree. Ley xxxv, whose margin runs from ordenanza 10 of 1527 through laws of 1572, 1587 and 1608 to Charles II \"en esta Recopilacion\", orders that in each capitana and almiranta of galleons and of fleets, and in each galleon of the armada, \"vayan un Piloto principal, y otro Acompañado, que sirva de Consejero, y un Maestre, el qual tenga en la navegacion la pericia, y sabiduría conveniente, y substituya por muerte, enfermedad, ó imposibilidad de los dos\". Three deep: a principal pilot, an accompanying pilot who serves as counsellor, and a master qualified to take the ship if both are gone. The stated reason is that this \"conviene al buen regimiento, y seguridad de los Baxeles\". Every other vessel \"de gavia, ó cubierta\" is to carry one examined and approved pilot.",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    {
      "id": "c3",
      "text": "The instruments go aboard the smaller ships for a reason the law states, and the reason is teaching. Ley xxxv closes by requiring that in those other vessels \"el Maestre lleve Carta de marear, Astrolabio, y Quadrante, para que los Marineros se instruyan en el Arte de la navegacion\". The chart, astrolabe and quadrant are not carried only so that the ship can be navigated — a pilot is already required aboard by the same sentence — but so that the seamen can learn the art from them. A training requirement is written into the manning rule of an ordinary merchantman.",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.85
    },
    {
      "id": "c4",
      "text": "The fleet's pilot-major is chosen from a list sent up by the men who examine pilots. Ley xxxiiij, from Philip IV on 23 December 1621, orders that when the post of \"Piloto mayor de la Armada Real de la Carrera de Indias\" falls to be filled, the President and Judges of the Casa \"nos envien relacion, y propongan á los mas hábiles, y de mayor experiencia que se hallaren\", the matter to be consulted with the crown through the Consejo de Cámara and the Junta de Guerra de Indias. The proposal comes from the institution that holds the examination records; the decision does not.",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    {
      "id": "c5",
      "text": "The pilots are given the gunners' privileges and a court of their own. Ley xxxvj, from Philip IV at Madrid on 19 May 1635 and at Aranjuez on 29 April 1648, declares that the preeminences granted to the Artillero mayor and the examined and approved gunners of the armadas and fleets \"se guarden al Piloto mayor, y á los demas Pilotos de la Carrera de Indias, sin faltar en cosa alguna\", and commands presidents, governors, oidores, alcaldes, alguaciles, the Asistente of Seville and all other justices of Castile to keep them. Its last clause is the sharpest: \"que de sus causas no puedan conocer otros Jueces, sino el Presidente, y los de la Casa de Contratacion\" — the pilots' cases belong to one bench, the court that licensed them.",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    {
      "id": "c6",
      "text": "One law does nothing but tell the admirals to be civil, and says why. Ley xxxx, from Philip IV at Madrid on 30 December 1633, opens \"POrque es justo que los Pilotos sean ayudados, y favorecidos en quanto fuere posible, para que se animen á servir su ministerio\", and orders the captains general of the armada and fleets to keep what belongs to the pilots and to \"amparen, traten bien, agasagen, y favorezcan, como á personas tan necesarias á las navegaciones\". Its stated purpose is recruitment: so that \"á imitacion de los que ahora son Pilotos, se alienten otros á merecer este grado\". The word printed in this impression is \"agasagen\".",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.85
    },
    {
      "id": "c7",
      "text": "The título ends by taking the examination down to the river. Ley xxxxj, from Philip III at Lerma on 19 July 1608, orders \"que ninguno pueda ser ni sea Arraez de Barco de carga, y descarga en el Rio de Sevilla, si no fuere primero exâminado, y aprobado por los Pilotos de aquel Rio, y dado fianzas, á satisfaccion del Presidente, y Jueces de la Casa de Contratacion\", with the Fiscal of the Casa to take note so that he may demand its enforcement. The men who lightered cargo between the quay and the ships are examined by the river's own pilots and bonded to the court — the same two devices, licence and surety, applied at the bottom of the trade as at the top.",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    {
      "id": "c8",
      "text": "What a flattering account of these laws would leave out, and the leaves do not. Ley xxxiiij's consultation ends with the crown unbound: having asked Seville for the ablest men, it reserves the appointment, \"proveamos al que fuere nuestra voluntad\". Ley xxxv orders a second pilot and a qualified master in the same breath as it freezes what they are paid — \"guardando en la asignacion, y paga de sus sueldos lo que se acostumbra\" — so the crown adds the post and not the money. Ley xxxvj grants the pilots nothing of its own: it carries across the privileges of the gunners by reference to \"las leyes 36. y 37. tít. 22. de este libro\", which are not printed in this título, so what was actually conferred cannot be read from these laws. Ley xxxx carries no penalty at all, and a king who has to order his admirals in 1633 to treat the pilots well is telling the reader that they did not. And ley xxxxj's stated object is \"la seguridad de lo que se les entregare, y de los daños que por su culpa sucedieren\" — the boatmen's examination and bond protect the cargo and run to the Casa, not to the boatmen.",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.8
    },
    {
      "id": "c9",
      "text": "What this entry does not establish. It reads five laws of one título in one impression and says nothing about practice: whether any fleet in fact sailed with the principal pilot, the acompañado and a qualified master that ley xxxv requires, whether the chart and instruments were carried in the smaller ships or used to teach anyone, whether the privileges of ley xxxvj were respected by the justices commanded to keep them, who was in fact appointed pilot-major of the armada after 1621, or what the arraeces of the river were examined in. The cross-reference in ley xxxvj to leyes 36 and 37 of título 22 of the same book was not followed and nothing is asserted about those laws; neither were the ordinances of the Casa cited in ley xxxv's margin. The dates in the margins are the dates as this impression prints them and were not collated against the 1681 first impression, which this corpus also holds.",
      "sources": [
        "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-xxiii-nombramiento-y-preeminencias"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.9
    }
  ],
  "takeaways": [],
  "faqs": [],
  "evidence_tier": "primary",
  "evidence": {
    "level": "industry_observation",
    "source_types": [
      "paper"
    ]
  },
  "moat_flag": true,
  "winning_edge": "A second pilot carried on every flagship whose function the law describes as counsellor, a master required to be competent to replace both, and chart, astrolabe and quadrant put aboard the smaller ships expressly \"para que los Marineros se instruyan en el Arte de la navegacion\" — redundancy and on-the-job training written into a manning rule of the Spanish Atlantic. This entry is the first in this corpus to quote the five laws that close libro VIIII título XXIII, which also give the pilots the gunners' privileges, an exclusive forum before the Casa de Contratación, a nomination procedure for the fleet pilot-major, and an examination and bond for the cargo boatmen of the Guadalquivir. Beside them it prints what the same laws concede: that the pay is explicitly left where it was, that the privileges are granted only by a cross-reference this entry did not follow, that the law on good treatment carries no penalty at all, and that the boatmen's bond protects the cargo rather than the boatman.",
  "confidence": 0.85,
  "last_verified": "2026-10-26",
  "media": [],
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    "name": "Two pilots to a flagship, a consultative nomination and a forum of their own: the standing of the Carrera's pilots — libro VIIII título XXIII, leyes xxxiiij to xxxxj",
    "description": "The last laws of the Recopilación's título on the pilots give the Atlantic fleets a second pilot aboard every flagship to serve as adviser and a master able to take over if both die, require the master to carry chart, astrolabe and quadrant so the crew can learn navigation from them, fill the fleet pilot-major's place from a shortlist sent up by Seville, extend the gunners' privileges and an exclusive forum to the pilots, and close by examining the cargo boatmen of the Guadalquivir.",
    "url": "https://hispanic-legacy.com/k/nombramiento-y-preeminencias-de-los-pilotos-de-la-carrera-de-indias",
    "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html",
    "dateModified": "2026-10-26",
    "citation": [
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Recopilación de leyes de los reynos de las Indias, libro VIIII título XXIII \"DEL PILOTO MAYOR, Y COSMÓGRAFOS de la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla, y Pilotos de la Carrera de Indias\" — leyes xxxiiij, xxxv, xxxvj, xxxx and xxxxj, on the filling of the pilot-major's place in the fleet, the pilots each ship must carry, the privileges of the pilots and the closing law of the título, running from the rubric of ley xxxiiij in the left-hand column of the printed folio 285 to the close of ley xxxxj in the right-hand column of folio 286, where the título ends; \"TÍTULO VEINTE Y QUATRO. DE LOS MAESTRES DE PLATA, Y NAVÍOS, y de Raciones, y Xarcia.\" stands across both columns at the head of folio 287. Ley xxxiiij, rubric \"Que para la eleccion de Piloto mayor de la Armada, proponga la Casa personas al Consejo.\", margin \"D. Felipe IIII allí á 23 de Diciembre de 1621\", whose text reads \"ORdenamos y mandamos, que quando se haya de proveer el puesto de Piloto mayor de la Armada Real de la Carrera de Indias, el Presidente, y Jueces de la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla nos envien relacion, y propongan á los mas hábiles, y de mayor experiencia que se hallaren, para que con Nos consultado por nuestro Consejo de Cámara, y Junta de Guerra de Indias, proveamos al que fuere nuestra voluntad.\" Ley xxxv, rubric \"Que en cada Navío de Armada, y en la Capitana, y Almiranta de Flota vayan dos Pilotos.\", margin \"El Emperador D. Cárlos, Ordenanza 10. de 1527. D. Felipe II en Madrid á 5 de Febrero de 1572. En S. Lorenzo á 4 de Abril de 1587. D. Felipe III en Madrid á 12 de Marzo de 1608. D. Cárlos II en esta Recopilacion\", whose text reads \"MAndamos que en cada una de las Naos Capitana, y Almiranta de Galeones, Capitana, y Almiranta de Flotas, y en cada uno de los Galeones de Armada vayan un Piloto principal, y otro Acompañado, que sirva de Consejero, y un Maestre, el qual tenga en la navegacion la pericia, y sabiduría conveniente, y substituya por muerte, enfermedad, ó imposibilidad de los dos, que así conviene al buen regimiento, y seguridad de los Baxeles, guardando en la asignacion, y paga de sus sueldos lo que se acostumbra, y en todos los demas Navíos, Carabelas, y otras Embarcaciones de gavia, ó cubierta, vaya un Piloto exâminado, y aprobado, y el Maestre lleve Carta de marear, Astrolabio, y Quadrante, para que los Marineros se instruyan en el Arte de la navegacion.\" Ley xxxvj, rubric \"Que al Piloto mayor de Sevilla, y Pilotos de la Carrera de Indias se les guarden las preeminencias, que se declara.\", margin \"D. Felipe IIII en Madrid á 19 de Mayo de 1635. En Aranjuez á 29 de Abril de 1648\", whose text reads \"ES nuestra voluntad, y mandamos que las preeminencias concedidas al Artillero mayor, y á los demas Artilleros de las Armadas, y Flotas, exâminados, y aprobados, se guarden al Piloto mayor, y á los demas Pilotos de la Carrera de Indias, sin faltar en cosa alguna. Y ordenamos á los Presidentes, y Gobernadores, y Oidores de nuestras Chancillerías, y Audiencias, Alcaldes, y Alguaciles de nuestra Casa, y Corte, y Chancillerías, y al Asistente de Sevilla, y Alcaldes de Quadra, y otras qualesquier Justicias, y Jueces de estos nuestros Reynos, y Señoríos de Castilla, que les guarden, y hagan guardar las gracias, mercedes, franquezas, libertades, y exênciones, preeminencias, y prerogativas, expresadas en las leyes 36. y 37. tít. 22. de este libro, y las demas que de esto tratan, como se mandan guardar á los dichos Artilleros, con las penas, y apercibimientos allí contenidos, y que de sus causas no puedan conocer otros Jueces, sino el Presidente, y los de la Casa de Contratacion.\" Ley xxxx, rubric \"Que los Generales hagan buen tratamiento á los Pilotos.\", margin \"D. Felipe IIII en Madrid á 30 de Diciembre de 1633\", whose text reads \"POrque es justo que los Pilotos sean ayudados, y favorecidos en quanto fuere posible, para que se animen á servir su ministerio, ordenamos y mandamos á los Capitanes Generales de la Armada, y Flotas de la Carrera de Indias, que les guarden, y hagan guardar todo lo que les toca, y pertenece por esta razon, y los amparen, traten bien, agasagen, y favorezcan, como á personas tan necesarias á las navegaciones, de forma, que á imitacion de los que ahora son Pilotos, se alienten otros á merecer este grado.\" Ley xxxxj, rubric \"Que ninguno sea Arraez de Barco de carga en el Rio de Sevilla, sin exâmen, y fianzas.\", margin \"D. Felipe III en Lerma á 19 de Julio de 1608\", whose text reads \"MAndamos que ninguno pueda ser ni sea Arraez de Barco de carga, y descarga en el Rio de Sevilla, si no fuere primero exâminado, y aprobado por los Pilotos de aquel Rio, y dado fianzas, á satisfaccion del Presidente, y Jueces de la Casa de Contratacion, por la seguridad de lo que se les entregare, y de los daños que por su culpa sucedieren, de que tomará la razon el Fiscal de la Casa, para que pida lo que convenga sobre el cumplimiento, y execucion de lo susodicho.\"",
        "url": "https://books.google.com/books?id=t5EbF6Y1EM4C&pg=PA285"
      }
    ],
    "@type": "Article",
    "headline": "Two pilots to a flagship, a consultative nomination and a forum of their own: the standing of the Carrera's pilots — libro VIIII título XXIII, leyes xxxiiij to xxxxj"
  }
}