A collection of books written by members of the Vanderbilt family was among numerous items acquired by IYRS from the Museum of Yachting. While volumes have been written about the legendary Vanderbilt family, our Library collection centers around those, who through their industry and intelligence, made the most of their passion for the sea.
Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)
Founder of the family fortune, Cornelius “the Commodore” Vanderbilt famously started his business in a small (2-masted) periauger, fearlessly delivering passengers and cargo between Manhattan and Staten Island. Commodore Vanderbilt: An Epic of the Steam Age is among the items in the IYRS Maritime Library Collection donated by W. Stephen Lirakis.
Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843-1899)
His favorite grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt II commissioned the Breakers, among the grandest of Newport’s Summer Cottages. Contained within the Library’s Vanderbilt Collection is an item that would have been of curious interest to his shipping magnate grandfather, CV II’s bespoke copy of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping; 1897 Yacht Register.
William (Willie) K. Vanderbilt (1878-1944)
As indicated by the books in the Library’s collection written by the Commodore’s great-grandson, William K. Vanderbilt II was an accomplished blue-water yachtsman. No further descriptions are needed beyond the titles “Willie K.” himself provided including: To Galapagos on the Ara, 1926: The events of a pleasure-cruise to the Galapagos Islands and a classification of a few rare aquatic findings including two specimens of a new species of shark never caught before and here described for the first time.
Taking One’s Own Ship Around the World; A journal descriptive of scenes and incidents, together with observations from the log book, recorded on the voyage around the world, October 25, 1928 to May 16, 1929, of the yacht Ara. West Made East with the Loss of A Day; A chronicle of the first circumnavigation of the globe under the United States naval reserve yacht pennant, July 7, 1931 to March 4, 1932; an account of the adventures in navigation, diversions, picturesque scenes… the everyday life of remote places, and the taking of specimens for the Vanderbilt Marine Museum.
Harold “Mike” Sterling Vanderbilt (1878-1944)
Harold “Mike” Stirling Vanderbilt (1884-1970) is another of the Commodore’s great-grandsons. Like his brother Willie K., he was both a prolific author and extraordinary yachtsman. Unlike his grandfather, he was an actual Commodore of the New York Yacht Club from 1922-24. By all accounts, he was a canny strategist and a fierce competitor— evidenced today by the plethora of trophies including 5 Astor Cups and 6 King’s Cups commanding their own room of Marble House, a Vanderbilt family summer home in Newport.
Inducted to both the America’s Cup Hall of Fame (1993) and the Sailor’s Hall of Fame (2011) Harold is best known to racing sailors as a three-time America’s Cup winner and originator of The Racing Rules of Sailing.
In addition to authoring When Two Yachts Meet: Racing Rules Pertaining to the Right of Way (adopted 1938) and Suggested Revision of the International Yacht Racing Right of Way Rules (1936), he penned two works of non- fiction based on his own experiences, Enterprise: The Story of the Defense of the America’s Cup in 1930, and On the Wind’s Highway: Ranger, Rainbow and Racing (1939). Harold’s wife and sailing partner Gertrude (nee Conway) Vanderbilt (1901-1978) was an accomplished yachtswoman in her own right. Alongside her husband, as a member of the after-guard on their J-Class yachts Rainbow and Ranger, she was one of the first two* women to race for the America’s Cup. (*The other first was Mrs. T.O.M. Sopwith who, also alongside her husband, held a similar role onboard Endeavour and Endeavour II.–SAS
Whether your interest lies in yacht racing, ocean voyaging, the Gilded Age or Newport history, the Vanderbilt Collection has something for you.
Good Reads:
One of the newest additions to our Library collection is: Vanderbilt, the Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper (the Commodore’s great-great-great grandson) and Katherine Howe. Of particular interest to sailors is Chapter 9: Standing in a Cold Shower Tearing Up Hundred-Thousand-Dollar Bills: September 15, 1934. Contained within is a detailed account of the 1934 America’s Cup contests between Harold S. Vanderbilt’s Rainbow and T.O.M. Sopwith’s Endeavor. Accurate descriptions of the on-water sparring combined with off-water quotes of the two skippers provides insight into the competitive 7-race series and the characters of both men.
Putting his remarkable family tree into perspective, Cooper closes this chapter: “…Harold S. Vanderbilt, the great-grandson of the Commodore, who had made his first fortune plying sailboats in New York Harbor… skippered his million-dollar racing yacht in a hotly contested series of thirty-mile circular races to nowhere.”–SAS