Joost van Breen ( - 1679)

Field(s) of interest: nautical instruments |
Gender: male


Died: Den Haag, 1679

Biography:
Joost van Breen (d. 1679) was ‘Equipage ende Amonutie-meester’ (administrator of goods, supplies and ammunition) of the Zeeland Admirality. Later he also was appointed examiner of the pilots of the Zeeland branch of the VOC (The Dutch East India Company). In 1660 he invented the spiegelboog (mirror-bow), a reflecting cross staff. This instrument was used for approximately 100 years in the Zeeland Chamber of the VOC. Towards the end of his life Van Breen moved to The Hague, where he had a career as an author of plays.

Occupations:
examiner of the pilots of the Zeeland department of the United East India Company (Middelburg)

equipage-meester (master of equipments) - ~1661 (Middelburg)

Sources:
Rijks, Marlise, The correspondence of Dirck Rembrantsz van Nierop (1610-1682) (The Hague 2012)

Breen, Joos van , Stiermans gemack. Ofte een korte Beschrijvinge vande Konst der Stierlieden (Den Haag 1662). On the title page Van Breen calls himself ‘Liefhebber der Vrye Konsten’ (lover of the arts).

Hilster, Nicolas de, ‘The Spiegelboog (mirror-staff): a reconstruction’ , Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 90 (2006), 6-15.

Davids, C.A., Zeewezen en wetenschap: de wetenschap en de ontwikkeling van de navigatietechniek in Nederland tussen 1585 en 1815 (Amsterdam 1985).