After putting up his horse Vincent went down to the navy yard, off which the _Merrimac_ was lying.
This ship had been sunk by the Federals when, at the commencement of hostilities, they had evacuated Norfolk.

Having been raised by the Confederates, the ship was cut down, and a sort of roof covered with iron was built over it, so that the vessel presented the appearance of a huge sunken house.

A ram was fixed to her bow, and she was armed with ten guns.

Her steam-power was very insufficient for her size, and she could only move through the water at the rate of five knots an hour.
"She is an ugly-looking thing," a man observed to Vincent, as he gazed at the ship.
"Frightfully ugly," Vincent agreed.

"She may be a formidable machine in the way of fighting, but one can scarcely call her a ship." "She is a floating battery, and if they tried their best to turn out the ugliest thing that ever floated they could not have succeeded better.
She is just like a Noah's ark sunk down to the eaves of her roof." "Yes, she is a good deal like that," Vincent agreed.