The new seafaring novel by Eduardo de la Fuente

The presentation of the new book by the Palma writer and journalist Eduardo de la Fuente, set in the Caribbean Sea of the 18th century, will take place on Friday 5th of April in the Sa Societat Theatre in Calvià at 19:00, where there will also be a subsequent signing of copies.

Entitled 'La Cruz de la Fortuna' and published by Ánima Ignis, this is the author's fourth novel and narrates the eventful life of Juan Antonio Cortés and his surprising journey as a cabin boy on a Spanish galleon, shipwrecked sailor, buccaneer and pirate hunter, ascetic and commander of San Mateo de Indias. Cortés was also a master shipwright and introduced to the New World the boats known there as lutes, derived from the Mallorcan llaüt, a design he learned from the mythical 'mestre d'aixa' Espineta.

"The figure of Juan Antonio Cortés is controversial," says the publisher. "Little known in our country, Anglo-Saxon and Dutch historiography places him in what has come to be known as the Spanish black legend. He was also the subject of two failed Vatican canonisation processes," it says. Now, a series of testimonies that did not see the light of day and new revealing documents have helped Eduardo de la Fuente to tell his story through one of the relics still venerated today in San Mateo de Indias and much of the southern Caribbean, the Cross of Fortune. "The theological debate is served: does the wood have a soul, can an old relic remember and tell the life of John," he asks.

Be that as it may, in the author's words, "the story of John had to be told: it doesn't matter whether one is the most convinced atheist or the most fervent believer. As Juan says: 'wood is life', and the modest cross he carved with his hands, today a relic, is the true narrator of his life. Whether Juan Antonio Cortés was real and his wanderings remembered in the Caribbean is something I leave to the reader's choice," he concludes.

From Passion for the Sea and Nautimedia, in our eagerness to promote the culture of the sea in the Balearic Islands and the nautical in its different manifestations and formats, we have lent our support to this initiative and invite all those interested to attend on Friday the 5th of April at the Sa Societat Theatre in Calvià at 19:00 hours.