dies.

The seams of a metallic boat will never open by exposure to the sun and
rain, when lying long upon the deck of a ship, or hauled up upon a
shore. Nor will such boats burn. If a ship takes fire at sea, the boats,
if of iron, can never be injured by the conflagration. Nor can they be
sunk. For they are provided with air chambers in various parts, each
separate from the others, so that if the boat were bruised and jammed by
violent concussions, up to her utmost capacity of receiving injury, the
shapeless mass would still float upon the sea, and hold up with
unconquerable buoyancy as many as could cling to her.[7]

A curious instance occurred during the late war with Mexico which
illustrates the almost indestructible character of these metallic boats.

The reader is probably aware that the city of Vera Cruz is situated upon
a low and sandy coast, and that the only port which exists there is
formed by a small island which lies at a little distance from the shore,
and a mole or pier built out from it into the water. The island is
almost wholly covered by the celebrated fortress of St. Juan de Ulloa.
Ships obtain something like shelter under the lee of this island and
mole, riding sometimes at anchor behind the mole, and sometimes moored
to iron rings set in the castle walls. At one time while the American
forces were in possession of the city, an officer of the army had
occasion to use a boat for some purpose of transportation from the
island to the shore. He applied to the naval authorities in order to
procure one. He was informed that there was no boat on the station that
could be spared for such a purpose. In this dilemma the officer
accidentally learned that there was an old copper life-boat, lying in
the water near the castle landing, dismantled, sunk, and useless. The
officer resolved, as a last resort, to examine this wreck, in hopes to
find that it might possibly be raised and repaired.

He found that the boat was lying in the water and half filled with
rocks, sand, and masses of old iron, which had been thrown into her to
sink and destroy her. Among the masses of iron there was a heavy bar
which had been used apparently in the attempt to punch holes in the boat
by those who had undertaken to sink her. These attempts had been
generally fruitless, the blows having only made indentations in the
copper, on account of the yielding nature of the metal. In one place,
however, in the bottom of the boat, the work h