Why didn’t the wood rot or eventually absorb water and allow water to enter the boat?
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Boats made of wood *still* cross the ocean.
When wood absorbs water it swells. Taking a wood boat out of water, letting it dry, then putting it back in will result in it leaking a lot until the wood swells up again.
Fresh water is the enemy of wood boats. Fresh water is what leads to dry rot. Salt water is good for wood, dry rot does not grow in salty water.
The main source of rot in wood boats is due to not being sailed much. Being regularly splashed and soaked with salt water is good for them. Sitting in a marine and being rained on, and that fresh water collecting in hard to reach areas is what leads to rot.
In tropical waters there is a type of worm that eats wood, this can be a big problem, but not if the bottom paint is maintained. Traditional bottom paint contains copper, which is poisonous to marine critters. Some boats actually use copper sheeting below the water line, but that is expensive and found only on some traditional style boats.
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