Two Chapters From Commodore Vanderbilt's Life

It is 1876 and the world’s richest man lies dying in a New York townhouse. Outside there’s an almost carnival-like atmosphere of reporters clamoring to report the death of the man who so captured the public’s imagination. But the cantankerous 84-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt has one more trick up his sleeve. To everyone’s surprise, he unexpectedly allows one of the journalists inside. Obsessed by the legacy he’ll soon be leaving to the world, Vanderbilt wants one more chance to spin his life story. Entering the sickroom, the reporter, Michael Burch, discovers that, ill as he is, Vanderbilt still radiates authority. Everything he does is larger than life. His coughs are raucously loud. His groans are as much shouting back at the pain as feeling it. Burch expects a recitation of Vanderbilt’s triumphs. He gets that, but what also emerges is an old man struggling to make sense of his life, flooded with memories of difficult, never resolved relationships. Burch realizes he has been given the scoop of a lifetime: a look inside at how the son of an illiterate farmer amassed an unimaginable fortune, and the battle scars that have been left along the way. Vanderbilt’s appetite for risk was legendary. At 19 he defied the English navy in the War of 1812, repeatedly sailing his simple sail boat through the blockade to deliver supplies to the American forts. There were many close calls. Is he a hero, a patriot? "No," he replies. He likes telling stories of his adventures because they are exciting. But it never occurred to him that he could get killed. His eyes were on the prize, the enormous sums of money being paid for each delivery. Then, after the war, when he owns three schooners and can claim a comfortable married life, he abruptly sells everything. The money from the sale are a beginning to the long time it will take to buy his first steamship. He and his wife save every penny. Ten years it takes to buy his first, eleven years after that he owns a hundred steamships. His wealth has come at a price. He is halfway to hell. Especially now, with the end near, his unsettled relationships are haunting him. Terrifying nightmares torment his sleep. They’re always the same, his father coming to kill him. Vanderbilt’s life is a story of resilience and passion. Down but never out, refusing to quit, he invariably found a way to get where he needed to go. In Commodore we see the man behind the façade, his childhood hunger and desperation, his inner doubts, and his fierce determination to succeed at all costs. As he faces death, we are faced with the central question. Was it worth it?