with his army but his captain tries to rape her and Contreras takes revenge by almost killing him. Contreras then escapes to Madrid where he gives himself up and explains what happened. He is exonerated and given order to return but most of the soldiers had deserted. After some time of soldiering he becomes a hermit on the slopes of the Moncayo in Aragon and lives that life until he is arrested and tried for the incident of the arms at Hornachos. He continued to have an adventurous and active military career which took him to many parts in Europe, rising to the rank of infantry captain. He also became an accomplished sailor and sailed all over the Mediterranean where he encountered many adventures. He also sailed to the West Indies where he encountered and fought the ships of Sir Walter Raleigh. For a time he was the governor of a small city in Italy. In Italy he married a Castilian lady but, having become suspicious of her faithfulness he spies on her and laconically says "their fate was that I found them in bed together and they died". He was present at the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano of 1631 and helped save some lives. He was befriended by the poet Lope de Vega who, having heard his tales, was probably who prompted him to write his autobiography. Bibliography His autobiography has been published many times in Spanish and the sailing directions at least once. Information on the various Spanish editions and a link to the downloadable text can be found at Wikipedia's page in Spanish. An English translation was published in 1926 and a more recent translation was published in 1989 by Paragon House, New York, titled The Adventures of Captain Alonso De Contreras: A 17th Century Journey. In the Spanish archives of Simancas (Archivo General de Simancas) there are, archived, two of his memorials, a sort of "resume" listing their accomplishments which, at the time, soldiers would have to prepare every time they sought promotion. The second one is dated fifteen years after his autobiography and gives further insight into the story of his life. Contreras compiled sailing charts about Mediterranean ports, capes and creeks, marking where all kinds of ships can be repaired and marking the depth of water. Either the original or a copy was later possessed by the Prince of Oneglia, the Spanish Viceroy