Livro de traças de carpinataria is a shipbuilding treatise composed by a man named Manoel Fernandez, and is dated to 1616. Very little is known about the author of this work, but many scholars of Iberian shipbuilding suspect that he was a Portuguese shipwright with much practical experience in the shipyard. However, the extent of Manoel Fernandez’s knowledge of such yards is a matter of some conjecture, since the only biographical information on this man is written in the manuscript described here. The first page of Livro de traças de carpintaria translates from archaic Portuguese to English in the following way: Books of draughts of shipwrightry with all the models and dimensions required to build all the navigation, both high-sided and oared, drawn by Manoel Fernandez, official of the same art. A self-portrait is included on the same page, which shows the author with the tools of his trade.