Pérez-Mallaína, Pablo E.

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Pérez-Mallaína, Pablo E.

(Pablo Emilio Pérez-Mallaína Bueno)

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of Seville, Calle San Fernando, 4 C.P. 41004, Seville, Spain. E-mail—pemilio@us.es.

CAREER:

University of Seville, Seville, Spain, director, department of American history.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Comercio y autonomía en la intendencia de Yucatán (1797-1814), Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos de Sevilla (Seville, Spain), 1978.

Política naval espanola en el Atlántico, 1700-1715, Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos (Seville, Spain), 1982.

Gobierno militar y político del reino imperial de la nueva espana, 1702, Universidad Naciónal Autonoma de Mexico (Mexico City, Mexico), 1986.

La armada del mar del sur, Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos de Sevilla (Seville, Spain), 1987.

La colonización: la huella de espana en América, Anaya (Madrid, Spain), 1988.

Navegación: Exposición Universal, Sevilla, 1992, Pabellón Temático, Sociedad Estatal para la Exposición Universal Sevilla 92 (Seville, Spain), 1992.

Los hombres del océano: vida cotidiana de los tripulantes de las flotas de Indias, siglo XVI, Sociedad Estatal para la Exposición Universal Sevilla 92: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Diputacion de Sevilla (Seville, Spain), 1992, translation by Carla Rahn Phillips published as Spain's Men of the Sea: Daily Life on the Indies Fleets in the Sixteenth Century, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1998.

La Metrópoli insular: rivalidad comercial canariosevillana, 1650-1708, Ediciones del Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain), 1993.

El hombre frente al mar: naufragios en la carrera de indias durante los siglos XVI y XVII, Universidad de Sevilla (Seville, Spain), 1996.

Retrato de una ciudad en crisis: la sociedad limena ante el movimiento Sísmico de 1746, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Seville, Spain), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Pablo E. Pérez-Mallaína's Spain's Men of the Sea: Daily Life on the Indies Fleets in the Sixteenth Century depicts that life in intimate detail. In the wake of Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Western Hemisphere in 1492 under Spanish sponsorship, the following century became Spain's golden age of exploration, with the nation sending vessels into the Atlantic and Pacific for purposes of commerce and empire-building. Pérez-Mallaína portrays the incredibly harsh conditions that sailors faced on these voyages and how the men managed to endure. He bases his account on numerous primary sources, including the extensive Archives of the Indies, housed in Seville, Spain.

Seville was Spain's primary Atlantic port in this era, and it is the starting point for Pérez-Mallaína's story. He describes a city abuzz with activity, full of sailors just off ships or looking for work on them. The sailors were mostly poor men who expected to make a better living at sea than on land. Little social status was attached to seafaring, even for those who held positions of authority, yet sailing men developed pride in their work. The majority of sailors were Spaniards from the regions of Andalusia and Cantabria, but some were Portuguese, German, Italian, French, or Greek. Some were black or of mixed race; these included both slaves and free men.

Life aboard ship was marked by hard physical labor, crowded and unsanitary conditions, poor food, strict discipline, and danger from pirate attacks and natural disasters. The voyages were long; it typically took four months for a ship to get from Spain to the Caribbean, and some went farther, sailing past the Americas to the Philippines and other Pacific destinations. Helping to make it all bearable were such diversions as music, card and dice games, and reading. Pérez-Mallaína notes that the books most popular with sailors were novels of adventure and romance, sometimes bawdy. Real-life sex was more problematic, as crews were generally all male, and homosexual relations were forbidden by church, state, and society. Sailors found to have had sex with other men usually faced harsh punishment.

The reward for this life was a moderate wage, although some common sailors worked their way up to become pilots, masters, or even owners of ships, and others supplemented their pay by illegally selling European goods in the Indies. Another compensation, however, was exposure to different cultures. Sailors transmitted knowledge of Europe to the peoples of the so-called New World and in turn absorbed information from them and brought it back to Spain. Pérez-Mallaína writes that "the first signs of a really international culture appeared in the maritime community."

Several reviewers deemed Spain's Men of the Sea an enlightening, well-researched, and often entertaining account of its subject. The book "has quickly established itself as one of the great classics of the study of seafaring culture," reported Felipe Fernandez-Armesto in History Today. John E. Kicza, writing in the Renaissance Quarterly, described it as "fascinating and comprehensive," while Journal of World History contributor John B. Hattendorf called it "a brilliant contribution to Spain's maritime social history."

Critics pointed out that the Archives of the Indies provided Pérez-Mallaína with a vast resource, but they also praised the way he used it. "The author has mined rich veins in the Spanish archives and other sources to present a portrait … that is at once orderly and intimate," observed Lincoln Paine in a piece on the World History Connected Web site. Ricardo A. Herrera, writing on H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, complimented Pérez-Mallaína's "skill at translating judicial records and other official documents into a rich, insightful, and sensitive" narrative. Peter T. Bradley, a reviewer for the Journal of Latin American Studies, remarked that "Pérez-Mallaína demonstrates a deft and skilful manipulation of sources," and Economic History Review commentator Marcus Rediker noted that the author has supplemented his archival research "with sources as diverse as travelers's accounts and the fictional writings of Miguel de Cervantes."

Also, related Celine Dauverd in the Journal of World History, Pérez-Mallaína "interweaves his account with vibrant anecdotes and illustrations, thus enlivening his narrative." In a similar vein, Bradley wrote that these "vignettes and tales of the lives of sailors" are "authentic historical gems." The stories portray sailors' brawls, mutinies, cases of unexpected upward mobility, and sexual peccadilloes, among other aspects of maritime life. Fernandez-Armesto reported that "good stories and cautionary tales abound," and Bradley added that Pérez-Mallaína brings "quiet humour" to his text.

Carla Rahn Phillips, who translated Pérez-Mallaína's book from Spanish to English, also received compliments from critics. She "has done a great service in rendering this into easy, jargon-free English," Paine commented, while Fernandez-Armesto called her work "fluent and unerring." Hattendorf concluded that her "fine translation" will allow Spain's Men of the Sea to "be fully appreciated in the English-speaking world, where it will undoubtedly become a model for similar and much needed work yet to be done for various periods and countries."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, June 1, 1999, Ruth Pike, review of Spain's Men of the Sea: Daily Life on the Indies Fleets in the Sixteenth Century, p. 1014.

Booklist, May 1, 1998, Jay Freeman, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 1483.

Economic History Review, February 1, 2000, Marcus Rediker, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 198.

Hispanic American Historical Review, August 1, 1993, Benjamin Keen, review of Los hombres del océano: vida cotidiana de los tripulantes de las flotas de Indias, siglo XVI, p. 503; November 1, 1999, review of El hombre frente al mar: naufragios en la carrera de indias durante los siglos XVI y XVII, p. 745.

History: Review of New Books, June 22, 2005, Bruce Taylor, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 164.

History Today, September 1, 1999, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 55.

Journal of Economic History, June 1, 2000, Geoffrey Parker, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 549.

Journal of Latin American Studies, October 1, 1999, Peter T. Bradley, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 745.

Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce, July 1, 1999, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 524.

Journal of World History, September 22, 2000, John B. Hattendorf, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 384; March 1, 2007, Celine Dauverd, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 103.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1998, review of Spain's Men of the Sea.

Library Journal, May 15, 1998, Stanley Itkin, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 96.

Publishers Weekly, May 18, 1998, "Breaking the Waves," p. 65.

Reference & Research Book News, November 1, 1998, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 230.

Renaissance Quarterly, March 22, 2006, John E. Kicza, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 168.

Sixteenth Century Journal, June 22, 1999, Ruth MacKay, review of Spain's Men of the Sea, p. 559.