American visitors in Malta (1) : Cornelius Venderbilt – “an outside barbarian of Yankeedom”

Abstract

A public treat of a unique kind was provided by the brief stop-over in Malta of an American tycoon in the company of a number of relatives and friends, all on a special holiday cruise. The tycoon was none other than Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794- 1877). The name of Vanderbilt immediately brings to mind one of America's wealthiest families, the foundation of whose fortunes was laid at the beginning of the nineteenth Century when Cornelius Vanderbilt, at the age of sixteen, pioneered the New York ferry services with Staten Island, where he was born. He rapidly developed the services and built a fleet of ships for coastal trading. These prospered and he bought control of a number of railway lines including the New York Central. He made money so rapidly that in 1853 he announced that he was going to take his first vacation of his life. It was to be a grand and lavish affair indeed.