Harold Stirling Vanderbilt was born in 1884, the grandson of the famed magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, and can today be called one of the most influential figures ever in bridge. Even though “train” was reportedly one of my first words – thanks to the view of a railway from the house – I didn’t hear the name Vanderbilt (or realize the sheer scope of what he achieved during his lifetime) until my much later teens.
As one of the first instalments for a BBO column, I thought it would be most fitting to go back to the start: Vanderbilt and the 1925 cruise where auction bridge was refined to contract.
Who Was Harold?
His NY Times Obituary published in 1970 describes him as “a famous yachtsman, originator of contract bridge and former railroad financier […]” and it was during a cruise aboard the SS Finland where he came up with the scoring system we know today and added a few then-unknown elements to the game. Some accounts add that he was crossing the Panama Canal at the time.
Vanderbilt authored several books on contract bridge, including Contract Bridge Bidding and the Club Convention, Contract by Hand Analysis, The Club Convention Modernized and The New Contract Bridge. Partnerships with JB Elwell and Waldemar von Zedtwitz were especially legendary.
He was inducted with the founding of the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1964, and later made the first WBF Honorary Member in 1969.
His ACBL Hall of Fame biography notes that he stepped back from playing in tournaments in 1941, but continued to play rubber bridge games in clubs and private home games from there.
The SS Finland
While digging into the history of Vanderbilt and bridge, it was inevitable that I’d come across more information on the cruise ship in the process. The SS Finland was put together by a company called W. Cramp & Sons as part of the Red Star Line – and its first voyage occurred in 1902 on the 4th of October from New York to Antwerp.
The ship also saw a voyage to the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm – and to war, where she survived an attack by torpedo in 1917, and was put back on her regular route again in 1920.
Within the Harold S. Vanderbilt Collection
The Harold Sterling Vanderbilt Collection is housed at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and contains a unique collection of Vanderbilt’s personal notes, sheet music, family correspondence and newspaper clippings and some of his notes on bridge.
Works specifically relating to bridge includes correspondence about bridge and some of Vanderbilt’s personal scrapbooks and notes about the game.