We are in the warm and bright month of May and I thought that I would tell you the story told to me by my father, many many years ago, about what really happened in Mexico and originally in many other countries in South America, re Cinco de Mayo! Cinco de Mayo ??? Not a lot of people know this, but Napoleon Bonaparte was, in addition to being a military mastermind, also a highly skilled craftsman, an innovator par excellence, and an inventor of many important things. One of the best known of his many inventions was of course Mayonnaise, which he had originally created for his wife, The Empress Josephine and which went on to be hugely popular not only in France and Europe, but also in the Americas where it proved to be a great favorite of almost all of the indigenous people. From the year 1804, for more than a decade, the export of the French Mayonnaise to South America was second only to the famous Napoleon Cognac Brandy. All good things come to an end however and after the final defeat of Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo in 1815, as you can imagine, the production and the export of the French Mayonnaise was drastically reduced, causing huge riots in Mexico and several other South American nations with universal demand for the Mayonnaise threatening the fall of many Governments! After a year of immense effort by all concerned, a very large quantity of shipment of Mayonnaise was produced and shipped from France to Mexico in 9 huge ships. The news of the shipment from France of the Napoleonic French Mayonnaise was greeted by almost all of the people in Mexico and many other South American nations with great joy and celebrations and every one looked forward to the arrival of the 9 ships from France. The 9 ships carrying the Napoleonic French Mayonnaise were almost in reach of the port of Ensenada de Todos los Santos - these days known as Ensenada - when on the 5th of May of that year, a totally unexpected and to this day, completely unexplained disaster struck all of the 9 ships carrying the Mayonnaise and all of the ships disappeared without a trace! The sinking without trace of the 9 ships carrying the Napoleonic French Mayonnaise, is said to have been the first recorded disaster within the area in the Atlantic which later came to be known as the Bermuda Triangle! The news of the sinking of all of the 9 ships carrying the Mayonnaise from France to South America was a great tragedy for Mexico and many of the nations awaiting the Mayonnaise and resulted in a declaration of a National Holiday allowing all to come to term with the loss. The holiday was of course originally called Sinko the Mayo, which due to the amazing coincidence that the 9 ships disappeared without a trace on the 5th of May, came to be known later as Cinco de Mayo! Over the years there have been many suggestions about the origin of Cinco de Mayo, including the Battle of Pueblaon, which just happened to have been fought on May 5, 1862. In reality, it all happened half a century before the Battle of Pueblaon was fought and those in the know will always remember the loss of the 9 ships asSinko De Mayo.