| The novel "Old Man and the Sea" was written by | | | | Jane Mason, Hemingway's mistress, who hired him |
| Ernest Hemingway in 1951. It is considered as one of | | | | after Mason became envious of Hemingway's |
| Hemingway's famous works and his last work of | | | | relationship with another woman named Martha |
| fiction during his lifetime. The story centers on the | | | | Gelhorn. |
| epic battle between an aging Cuban fisherman named | | | | However, some people believed that the real |
| Santiago and the largest catch of his life - a giant | | | | inspiration for the character of Santiago was Carlos |
| marlin, that he caught in Gulf Stream. | | | | Gutierrez, the original first mate of Pilar whom |
| Hemingway wrote the novel in 1951 when he was in | | | | Fuentes replaced. According to some experts, |
| Cuba. The inspiration for the character of Santiago | | | | Gutierrez has 40 years of fishing experience in the |
| was believed to be a Cuban national named Gregorio | | | | Gulf Stream and was a very old man when |
| Fuentes who worked as a nautical captain. Fuentes | | | | Hemingway met him for the first time. The |
| was the captain of the ship Pilar, which he sailed | | | | Hemingway himself credited Gutierrez as his mentor |
| together with Hemingway throughout Cuba. | | | | where he learned everything about how to catch a |
| Born on July 11, 1897, Fuentes was also a fisherman. | | | | marlin. However, the author himself stated that the |
| He worked as the first mate of Pilar which was | | | | character of Santiago was "based on no one in |
| owned by Hemingway. He was born in the Canary | | | | particular. |
| Islands and moved to Cuba at the age of 10. It was | | | | |