He is the author of a Treatise on the Nautical Needle, dated 1514, which is extant in a later copy included in an undated (ca. 1550?) Portuguese nautical atlas.
[2][3]
It is composed by the Brief Treatise on Seamanship and a "Treatise on the Nautical Needle found by João de Lisboa in the year 1514". Thereafter, an atlas of 20 charts follows.
The maps of the Tratado clearly date from after 1514. For instance, it shows the Magellan Strait or Japan (which was only reported by the Portuguese in 1543). On the other hand, the position of certain Portuguese flags is not consistent with historical events; in particular in one of the charts, Portuguese castles are drawn in Inca territory, something that was never reported in any official document. Based on the presence of Japan, Armando Cortesão dated the atlas as "circa 1560",[5] while other authors date it to "circa 1550".[3][6]
^Armando Cortesão; Avelino Teixeira da Mota (1960). Portugalliae Monumenta Cartographica. Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional da Casa da Moeda.
^Albuquerque, Luís de (1982). O "Tratado da agulha de Marear" de João de Lisboa; reconstituição do seu texto, seguida de uma versão francesa com anotações. Coimbra: IICT. p. 133.