This request was granted, limiting the number of voyages however to
four instead of six. In the meantime the Dutch merchants erected and
garrisoned two small forts to protect themselves from such piratic
excursions as that of captain Argal. In the year 1614 five vessels
arrived at Manhattan to transport to Europe the furs which had been
purchased. Just as Captain Block was preparing to return, his ship,
the Tiger, which was riding at anchor just off the southern point of
Manhattan island, took fire, and was burned to the water's edge.

[Illustration]

He was a very energetic man, not easily dismayed by misfortune. The
island abounded with admirable timber for ship building. He
immediately commenced the construction of another vessel. This yacht
was forty-four and a half feet long, and eleven and a half feet wide.
The natives watched the growth of the stupendous structure with
astonishment. In the most friendly manner they rendered efficient aid
in drawing the heavy timber from the forest to the shipyard. They also
brought in abundant food for the supply of the strangers.

Early in the spring of 1614 the "Restless" was launched. Immediately
Captain Block entered upon an exploring tour through what is now
called the East River. He gave the whole river the name of the
Hellegat, from a branch of the river Scheldt in East Flanders. The
unpropitious name still adheres to the tumultuous point of whirling
eddies where the waters of the sound unite with those of the river.

Coasting along the narrow portion of the sound, he named the land upon
his right, which he did not then know to be an island, Metoac or the
Land of Shells. We should rather say he accepted that name from the