from the United States Government ten war-vessels.
These were of medium size and in good condition, but
they were of an old-fashioned type, and it had not been
considered expedient to put them in commission. This
action caused surprise and disappointment in many
quarters. It had been supposed that the Syndicate,
through its agents scattered all over the world, would
immediately acquire, by purchase or lease, a fleet of
fine ironclads culled from various maritime powers.
But the Syndicate having no intention of involving, or
attempting to involve, other countries in this quarrel,
paid no attention to public opinion, and went to work
in its own way.

Its vessels, eight of which were on the Atlantic
coast and two on the Pacific, were rapidly prepared for
the peculiar service in which they were to be engaged.
The resources of the Syndicate were great, and in a
very short time several of their vessels, already
heavily plated with steel, were furnished with an
additional outside armour, formed of strips of elastic
steel, each reaching from the gunwales nearly to
the surface of the water. These strips, about a foot
wide, and placed an inch or two apart, were each backed
by several powerful air-buffers, so that a ball
striking one or more of them would be deprived of much of its
momentum. The experiments upon the steel spring and
buffers adopted by the Syndicate showed that the force
of the heaviest cannonading was almost deadened by the
powerful elasticity of this armour.