Credited by many as the model for the main character in the Old Man and the Sea, Gregorio Fuentes has signed and dated this book from 1999, in Cojimar Cuba his home..Fuentes  was the first mate of Ernest Hemingway's boat the Pilar for many years..The two met in 1928 in the Caribbean when Hemingway's boat ran out of gas and had to be towed by Fuentes. Hemingway left the Pilar to Fuentes when he commited suicide in 1961 and is now displayed at the Hemingway Museum in Havana.  Great history from these two greats.. Fuentes passed in 2002 at the age of 104.