View source for Tyger (ship)

{{Short description|Former Dutch ship}}
{{for|the Royal Navy ship|English ship Tyger (1647)}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}} <!-- age of sail -->
|+''Tyger''
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=
|Ship flag=
|Ship name=
|Ship owner=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship honors=
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=Burned November 1613
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Ship length={{Convert|80|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="nathistmag">Christopher L. Hallowell, "[http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-past/161517/disappearance-of-the-historic-ship-itijgeri Disappearance of the Historic Ship Tijger]", ''[[Natural History Magazine]]'', 1974. Retrieved on 31 July 2014.</ref>
|Ship crew=18 men<ref name="nathistmag"/>
|Ship armament=6 or 8 1,500/1,600-pound cannons<ref name="nathistmag"/>
}}
|}
'''''Tyger'''''<ref>Also written '''''Tiger''''', '''''Tijger''''', and '''''Tyjger'''''.</ref> ({{IPA|nl|ˈtɛiɣər|-|nl-tijger.ogg}}; {{langx|en|Tiger}}) was the ship used by the Dutch captain [[Adriaen Block]] during his 1613 voyage to explore the [[American East Coast|East Coast]] of [[North America]] 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 site|World Trade Center complex]].

==History==
In late summer of 1613, ''Tyger'' had moored in [[Lower Manhattan]] 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.<ref>[http://www.theonrust.com/history.html "Onrust and the Voyages of Captain Adriaen Block", Onrust.org]</ref> 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 men{{spaced ndash}}presumably with help from the Indians{{spaced ndash}}built ''[[Onrust]]'' (''Restless''), which they used to explore the [[East River]] and [[Long Island Sound]] before returning to [[Europe]] in 1614.

==Rediscovery==
The shore of Manhattan was [[Lower Manhattan expansion|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 {{convert|20|ft}} below the street{{spaced ndash}}right where it had been beached on the shoreline of Manhattan Island at the time of the ship's burning.<ref name=luce>[http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/fragment-dutch-ship-tyger "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 {{convert|11|ft}} of silt accumulated and, in 1763, a waterfront fill-in project added another {{convert|8|to|9|ft}}.

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 {{convert|8+1/2|ft}} of prow and keel with three of the hull's ribs.<ref>Kelly, James A. Personal relation to his grandson John L. Kelly.</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=July 2013}} 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williamson |first=W.M. |title=Adrian Block: Navigator, Fur Trader, Explorer, New York's First Shipbuilder, 1611–14 |location=New York |publisher=Marine Museum of the City of New York, Museum of the City of New York |year=1959}}</ref>

The remainder of the ship may still rest approximately {{convert|20|ft}} below ground, due east of the former site of the North Tower of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|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.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-past/171517/disappearance-of-the-historic-ship-tijger |title=Disappearance of the Historic Ship Tijger |last=Hallowell |first=Christopher L. |journal=[[Natural History (magazine)|Natural History]] |date=August–September 1974 |page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/18th-century-ship-found-at-trade-center-site/ |title=18th Century Ship Found at Trade Center Site |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |department=City Room blog |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=14 July 2010}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Juan (Jan) Rodriguez]]
* [[Lower Manhattan expansion]]
* [[New Netherland]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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