• The Museum of the City of New York will re-examine a 17th-century shipwreck uncovered during a 1916 NYC subway dig.
• New research may confirm whether the remains belong to the Dutch ship Tyger—one of the earliest ships to drop anchor in New York Harbor.
• Dutch and U.S. experts will analyze ship timbers to shed light on early New York history.

In 1916, subway construction near Greenwich and Dey Streets in Lower Manhattan unearthed a surprising relic. Some 20 feet underground, workers turned up charred timber; digging further, the contours of an ancient ship came into view—its prow, keel, and ribs. The wreck was later deemed to be the Tyger, a 17th-century vessel that represents a rare archaeological trace of early Dutch exploration in Manhattan.

The remains of the ship were donated to the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) in the 1940s, where they’ve been held ever since. Now, the museum is turning a fresh eye on the artifacts to reassess their origins—and attribution—in partnership with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE). In a joint research project beginning next month, the institutions will apply advanced scientific and historical techniques to the ship’s timbers to better understand their significance. 

“These ship timbers connect us directly to New York’s earliest years as a crossroads of cultures, commerce, and exploration,” Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, director and president of MCNY, said in a statement. The new study, she added, will “help uncover new insights into the city’s 17th-century past.”

Timber possibly from the Tyger. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

Destroyed by Fire

The Tyger departed Amsterdam in 1613, captained by private trader Adriaen Block, who was tasked with purchasing furs by the Van Tweenhuysen Company. Dropping anchor in New York Harbor—one of the earliest known European vessels to do so—Block and the crew began filling the ship’s hold with beaver and otter pelts obtained through trade with the Lenape tribe. But just as the Tyger was ready to set sail, a fire erupted onboard, burning the entire vessel to the waterline.

Buried under layers of silt, the centuries-old wreck was dug out of the ground by James A. Kelly, the foreman of the subway construction crew. It was no small feat. Working against a tight construction schedule and timbers that were tough to budge, Kelly eventually had the keel and bow chopped off, leaving a section still firmly buried in a tunnel wall. The surviving pieces were transported to the New York Aquarium and dunked into the seal tank to preserve them.

Timbers possibly from the Tyger on view in the Marine Gallery at the Museum of the City of New York. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

In 1943, the objects were gifted by New York’s Parks Department to the MCNY, which exhibited them in its Marine Gallery. Scientific analysis around this time dated the ship’s timbers to between 320 and 360 years old, while an iron bolt from the vessel was determined to be forged using a smelting technique common in Europe around 1600. 

Identifying the Remains

Based on these findings, as well as the vessel’s condition and location, the wreck was identified as the Tyger. (The rest of the ship was long believed to still sit under the World Trade Center; the remains of a vessel excavated at the site in 2010, however, did not belong to the Tyger.)

Timber possibly from the Tyger. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

The latest research effort aims to finally resolve the ship’s identity. It will involve dendrochronological analysis to determine when and where the ship’s timbers were sourced, while identifying the wood species to better pinpoint the vessel’s origins. The artifacts will also be studied as shipbuilding elements to shed light on the construction techniques of their day. The scientific probe will be accompanied by historical research into the Tyger.

“The arrival of the ship Tyger in 1613 marks one of the earliest attempts to connect with the ‘new’ world and to map the area that would later become New York,” Martijn Manders, program leader for RCE’s International Program for Maritime Heritage, said in a statement. “Hopefully our research will shine some more light on the wood provenance, dating, and construction of the ship parts. Will it be the Tyger? Who knows?”