The Dutch name Hellegat means `` passage to hell '' .
The section known as `` Hell Gate '' – from the Dutch name Hellegat meaning either `` bright strait '' or `` clear opening , given to the entire river in 1614 by explorer Adriaen Block when he passed through it in his ship Tyger pp.419–20 – is a narrow , turbulent , and particularly treacherous stretch of the river .
East River