The novel “The Old Man and the Sea” was written by Ernest Hemingway in 1951. It is considered one of Hemingway’s famous works and his last fictional work during his life. The story centers on the epic battle between an elderly Cuban fisherman named Santiago and the largest catch of his life – a giant marlin, which he caught in Gulf Stream.
Hemingway wrote the novel in 1951 when he was in Cuba. It was believed that the inspiration for the character of Santiago was a Cuban citizen named Gregorio Fuentes who worked as a nautical captain. Fuentes was the captain of the ship Pilar, which sailed with Hemingway through Cuba.
Born on July 11, 1897, Fuentes was also a fisherman. He worked as Pilar’s first officer, which was owned by Hemingway. He was born in the Canary Islands and moved to Cuba at the age of 10. It was Jane Mason, Hemingway’s lover, who hired him after Mason became envious of Hemingway’s relationship with another woman named Martha Gelhorn.
However, some people believed that the true inspiration for Santiago’s character was Carlos Gutiérrez, Pilar’s original first officer whom Fuentes replaced. According to some experts, Gutiérrez has 40 years of experience fishing in the Gulf Stream and was a very old man when Hemingway first met him. Hemingway himself credited Gutiérrez as his mentor, where he learned everything about how to catch a marlin. However, the author himself stated that the character of Santiago “was not based on anyone in particular.”
