[1] He was born in Ciboure, in the Iparralde, the French Basque Country.
He is recognized for publishing one of the first Newfoundland pilots, a book which describes places and distances to aid sailors in navigation, in 1579.
Les voyages aventureux du Capitaine Martin de Hoyarsabal, habitant du çubiburu was published in French and was widely used by French and Spanish mariners for almost a century.
As a reference work, the Navigational Pilot was invaluable for ships traveling in the Newfoundland area.
The following is an example taken from Hoyarçabal's work; in this text, Hoyarçabal is giving distances between several places in Newfoundland: In 1677, Pierre Detcheverry translated and expanded the Navigational Pilot into Labourdin Basque.