I just heard a very funny piece about him on NPR this morning. He was actually the second cuban that Hemingway hired to captain his boats, so it is suggested that Gregario was not the only inspiration for "The Old Man in the Sea". In fact both of these captains were too young, at the time, to be the full inspiration. The are funny stories, though about Gregario and Hemingway during WWII. It seems Hemingway wanted to list his boat during the war. He and Gregario would go out, get drunk as all get out and attempt to drop handgrenades down the conning towers of German subs. No one is sure if they ever saw a sub, let alone get close to one, but there is no evidence that they ever succeeded. There does seem to be plenty of evidence though, of their drunken escapades as it seems Hemingway became quite clumsy when drunk and on numerous occasions needed to be stitched up after nasty falls on the boat.
After Hemingway's death, with no one to contradict him, Gregario played up the part of the the "old man" attracting tourists to his home village in Cuba and making a good living for himself.  | 
