The second, expanded version was produced as a commission for Ottoman Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha, and completed in 1526.

Written when Ottoman sailors relied on oar-driven galleys and galiots, the Kitab-ı Bahriye reflects their needs and capabilities.

He created his first world map and likely began compiling the notes and charts that would form the basis of the Kitab-ı Bahriye.

[3][9] The Kitab-ı Bahriye's preface reads, "The reason for compiling this book is that a number of master craftsmen have now brought forward offerings from their various trades to the auspicious threshold and felicitous gate of His Majesty the World-protecting Emperor, so as to gain high status in society and attain name and renown through the matchless favor of that well-favored sovereign.

[9] The second version was drafted after Piri Reis took the Ottoman Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha to Egypt.

[9][10] Ibrahim rode aboard the navy's flagship, commanded by Piri Reis, when putting down Hain Ahmed Pasha's rebellion in Egypt.

He thus grasped its gist…; he knew that there was accuracy, mastery in the art of navigation [contained in my book]… [and] he showed esteem for this slave of his as a result.

[14] There was a greater demand for Turkish geographical texts in the late sixteenth century than during Piri Reis' own life.

[14] The Kitab-ı Bahriye is a portolan atlas that offered the most detailed navigational guide to the Mediterranean Sea for its time.

Djerba, in particular, includes greater detail than the highly-regarded maps Giacomo Gastaldi composed in sixteenth-century Italy.

An isolario—like Benedetto Bordone's The Book of Islands compiled in Venice around the same time as the Kitab-ı Bahriye—was divided into chapters with maps of the locations described.

[20] Historian Thomas Day Goodrich has argued that the Kitab-ı Bahriye introduced the technique of referring to the maps from within the book's text.

Prose portions of the Kitab-ı Bahriye refer the reader to specific maps for details or a better understanding of the geography.

[22] The Kitab-ı Bahriye is a practical navigation guide, and the sixteenth-century Ottoman fleet relied mainly on galleys and galiots.

[23] The Kitab-ı Bahriye reflects their capabilities and is written for a captain making a series of short coastal voyages.

[24] The length of galleys combined with their low freeboard made them quick but susceptible to storms and high winds.

[24] The most commonly depicted watercraft is the galley, but the Kitab-ı Bahriye also frequently mentions sandals, a type of small rowing boat.

[20] Galleys needed to frequently stop for supplies, and the Kitab-ı Bahriye notes where fresh water can be found.

[28] A 2020 analysis of two copies found each depicted over 100 fortified towns, over 800 fortresses, about 390 towers, just over 100 ruins, 148 ports, and about 200 fresh-water springs.

[30] When discussing the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Europe, Piri Reis explains how the harbor at Messina was protected in medieval times by a submerged chain that could be raised from Forte del Santissimo Salvatore and pulled taut across the harbor by night or during times of conflict:[31][32] If one shouted on a calm day, from [Sicily] it would be audible on the coast of Calabria.

In front of the castle is a nice, natural harbour that measures four miles in circumference inside and varies in depth from thirty to forty fathoms.

A chain is stretched across the mouth of this harbour and at either end of it there is a tower.The Kitab-ı Bahriye is one of the few sources of biographical information on Piri Reis.

[33] The book includes first-hand information from Piri Reis' own sailing and his early experiences with his uncle in the Western Mediterranean.

[35] The first version begins with a standard Ottoman introduction offering praise to Allah and Muhammad along with an explanation of the book's purpose.

[22][12] The description of the Americas includes fantastical hearsay; it describes natives with massive flat faces and the width of an entire hand between their eyes.

[15] According to historian Thomas Day Goodrich, there are more hand-drawn manuscript maps of Piri Reis' work than any other cartographer.