Whoever would have said when he bought the _Mare Nostrum_ that some day they would give him such an enormous sum for it ?...

In no country could they find any vessels for sale.

The invalids of the sea, rusting in the harbors as old iron, were now bringing fabulous prices.
Boats, aground and forgotten on remote coasts, were placed afloat for enterprises that were gaining millions by this resurrection.

Others, submerged in tropical seas, had been brought up to the surface after a ten years' stay under the water, renewing their voyages.

Every month a new shipyard sprang into existence, but the world war could never find enough vessels for the transportation of food and instruments of death.
Without any bargaining whatever, they had given Ferragut the price that he had exacted; fifteen hundred francs per ton,--four million and a half for the boat.