In
spite of his tender age, little Cornelius was placed by his father in
charge of the undertaking, which he accomplished promptly and
successfully. He loaded his lighters, sent them up to New York, and then
started for home with his wagons. Upon reaching South Amboy, where he
was to cross over to Staten Island, he found himself, with his wagons,
horses, and men, without any money to pay his ferriage across to the
island. The ferriage would amount to six dollars, and how he was to
raise this sum he was, for a time, at a loss to determine. Finally, he
went to the keeper of the tavern, to whom he was a stranger, and asked
for the loan of six dollars, offering to leave one of his horses as a
pledge for the money, which he promised to return within two days. The
tavern-keeper was so well pleased with the boy's energy, that he loaned
him the money, and the party crossed over to Staten Island. The pawned
horse was promptly redeemed.
Young Vanderbilt was always anxious to become a sailor, and, as he
approached his seventeenth year, he determined to begin life as a
boatman in the harbor of New York. On the 1st of May, 1810, he informed
his mother of his determination, and asked her to lend him one hundred
dollars to buy a boat.
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