I am an old sailor, older than a sailor, who once told you a story, that of a man who wanted to wake up when he was no longer sleepy. I have managed to make that man's dream my own, but I was only able to achieve it after retiring. And now I understand you better.
The sea, the sea, is full of mysteries that we have not yet deciphered. We know more about our solar system, about the universe in general, than about the sea with how close we are to it.
Almost everyone will have heard of great navigators such as Magellan, Elcano, Vasco de Gama, James Cook, Drake and many, many more who left us testimony of their travels and adventures.
But today I want to recall the life of a Spanish military sailor, a great strategist, who deserves all my admiration and who is barely known: Blas de Lezo.
He was born in Guipúzcoa in 1689 and died at the age of 52 in Cartagena de Indias. He lived in a difficult time for Spain, when the slave trade, spices from the Indies, pirates and corsairs and, above all, the domination of the remains of the maritime routes were the motivation for the wars of those times. Spain in decline, France I want but I can't and England "biting" everything it could.
Blas de Lezo was a sailor and soldier from the age of 17 until his death 35 years later. And he lost his left leg, his left eye and the mobility of his right arm in naval combat.
There are several biographies: some passionate; others, little credible; and outside and inside Spain, a black legend to stain his memory. Even the issuance of commemorative coins of the English victory in Cartagena de Indias, carried out before the English attack (the fact was the humiliating defeat of the English army). Some illustrious Spanish researchers point out in their study that the coins were not issued by the English government but by an English company. It is hard to believe that His Majesty's Government would allow the issuance of coins without their control.
Be that as it may, I admire Blas de Lezo because I was also a sailor and I can better understand the hardships he suffered in the company of his men. The story is as it is and many times it is distorted according to the "religion" of the person who tells it.