Page:The history of yachting.djvu/116

36 make further discoveries. At The Hague a company was formed, consisting of the following vessels and schippers: Fortuyn, Cornells May; Tiger, Adriaen Block; Fortune, Henrick Corstiaenssen; Little Fox, Jan de With; Nightingale, Thys Volchertssen. Having loaded their vessels at New Netherland, all these skippers sailed, in the autumn of 1613, for home, excepting Adriaen Block. He was nearly ready for sea, when his vessel the Tiger—lying at anchor, laden with furs, in the harbor of Manhattan, just off the present Battery Place, at the foot of Greenwich Street—accidentally caught fire, and was damaged beyond repair.

Skipper Block and his crew found themselves in a serious dilemma. Too late in the season to expect any vessel from Holland, and there being at that time no huts or houses on Manhattan in which white men could pass a winter, their only alternative was to rely upon help from the Indians. And in this they were not disappointed; every kindness and assistance was shown to them. Block and his men at once built huts for shelter and protection from the cold, afterward he and his companions turned their attention to building a small vessel to replace the Tiger.

It seems probable that the Tiger was not entirely destroyed, but that a considerable part of her stores, fittings, rigging, and sails were saved. These were no doubt used in constructing the new vessel; especially the metal bolts, fastenings, and necessary tools; otherwise, it is difficult to see how she could have been built at all.