tors in the business, who, being all grown men, could dispose of
their gains as they chose; but of all the forty, he alone has emerged to
prosperity and distinction. Why was this? There were several reasons. He
soon became the best boatman in the port. He attended to his business
more regularly and strictly than any other. He had no vices. His
comrades spent at night much of what they earned by day, and when the
winter suspended their business, instead of living on their last
summer's savings, they were obliged to lay up debts for the next
summer's gains to discharge. In those three years of willing servitude
to his parents, Cornelius Vanderbilt added to the family's common stock
of wealth, and gained for himself three things--a perfect knowledge of
his business, habits of industry and self-control, and the best boat in
the harbor."

During the War of 1812, young Vanderbilt was kept very busy. All the
harbor defenses were fully manned, and a number of war vessels were in
port all the time. The travel between these and the city was very great,
and boatmen were in demand.

In September, 1813, a British fleet attempted to run past Fort Richmond,
during a heavy gale. The commanding officer was anxious to send to New
York for reinforcements, but it was blowing so hard that none of the old
boatmen were willing to venture upon the bay. They all declared that if
the voyage could be made at all, Cornelius Vanderbilt was the only man
who could make it. The commandant at once sent for the young man, who,
upon learning the urgency of the case, expressed his belief that he
could carry the messengers to the city. "But," said he, "I shall have to
carry them part of the way under water." He set out with the messengers,
and in an hour landed them safe, but drenched through, at the foot of
Whitehall Street, which was then the landing place of all the boatmen of
the harbor.

He was now so prosperous in his calling that he determined to marry. He
had wooed and won the heart of Sophia Johnson, the daughter of a
neighbor, and he now asked his parents' consent to his marriage, and
also requested them to allow him to retain his own earnings, in order
that he might be able to support a wife. Both of his petitions received
the approval of his parents, and in the winter of 1813 he was married.
His wife was a woman of unusual personal beauty and strength of
character, and proved the best of partners. He has often declared since
that he owed his