''Tyger'' (; ) was the ship used by the Dutch captain Adriaen Block during his 1613 voyage to explore the East Coast of

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and the present day Hudson River. Its remains were uncovered in 1916 during the construction of the New York City Subway on land that is now part of the World Trade Center complex.

History

In late summer of 1613, ''Tyger'' had moored in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

on the Hudson to trade with the Lenape Indians along with its partner Hendrick Christiaensen's ''Fortuyn''. By November, ''Tyger'' had been filled with pelts of beaver, otter, and other skins obtained in barter. In November, an accidental fire broke out and ''Tyger'' rapidly burned to the waterline. The charred hull was beached and all but the small section of prow and keel salvaged in 1916 remained in that location, buried beneath what later became the intersection of Greenwich and Dey Streets in Lower Manhattan. During the fire, the crew salvaged some sails, rope, tools and fittings. Over the winter, Block and his menpresumably with help from the Indiansbuilt '' Onrust'' (''Restless''), which they used to explore the East River and

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before returning to

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in 1614.

Rediscovery

The shore of Manhattan was expanded through landfill in the centuries following the fire. In 1916, workmen led by James A. Kelly uncovered the prow and keel of ''Tyger'' while excavating an extension for the New York City Subway BMT Broadway Line near the intersection of Greenwich and Dey Streets. The ship and some related artifacts were discovered by Kelly's crew at a depth of about below the streetright where it had been beached on the shoreline of Manhattan Island at the time of the ship's burning."Fragment from the Dutch ship 'Tyger'", Luce Center, New York Historical Society
/ref> Over a period of 150 years after the vessel had been beached, approximately of silt accumulated and, in 1763, a waterfront fill-in project added another . Although the excavation crew was under great pressure to keep the pace of work on schedule, Kelly persuaded his supervisors to allow sufficient excavation to remove about of prow and keel with three of the hull's ribs. The timbers were placed in the seal tank of the New York Aquarium in Battery Park. In 1943, they were presented to the Museum of the City of New York for exhibition in the Marine Gallery. The remainder of the ship may still rest approximately below ground, due east of the former site of the North Tower of the World Trade Center; however, it might have been dug up in the process of building the World Trade Center. Also, ''Tyger'' appears not to have been the only ship wrecked on the World Trade Center site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyger (Ship) Exploration ships of the Dutch Republic New Netherland 17th-century maritime incidents Shipwrecks of the United States 1613 1610s disasters

History

Rediscovery

See also

References