there's a will? confederate sympathizers opened up the dock yards and let them build in secret. >> the alabama was the big one. >> the biggest, the greatest, the best. sunk 64 federal ships. after the war in 1872, britain ended up paying $15 million in gold in reparations for not stopping the alabama from leaving britain shores. >> how close did britain come to intervening and look at what might have happened had they? >> i have no doubt first of all if britain had intervened on the begin og it was war on the side of the north, the south wouldn't have had a chance whatsoever. on the part of the south, the knot wouldn't have had a chance. they always entry once, once by default. and in 1862. people are saying, it's a disaster. people are dying. we must intervene. >> you've written other great