![]() The British had seized Alexandra, a suspected commerce raider, in a Liverpool yard, and pressure in Parliament on Laird Brothers in Birkenhead mounted over the rams they were building. 1īulloch needed the French yards more than ever. Like Emile Erlanger, the banker who put together the sale of cotton bonds on European exchanges, the owners were “solid with the emperor” and members of his parliament. The two shipyards were Arman’s in Bordeaux and Vorduz in Nantes, both with reputations for quality and capable technology. There were two private French shipyards close to Great Britain-where Bulloch and Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, the famed scientist and member of the Confederate Secret Service, were-and Paris, where Confederate Navy Captain Samuel Barron headquartered in the Grand Hotel. Slidell told Bulloch and Commissioner James Murray Mason in London that the emperor was very encouraging when their discussion turned to arms and ships. Bulloch, Confederate naval agent in Great Britain, saw as Lord Palmerston’s government was under increasing pressure from Washington to crack down on Confederate ship-buying on the island and in Ireland. This was the flicker of light Commander James D. The two discussed French advances in armoring ships, and Napoleon III dropped broad hints to look to private French yards. ![]() In October 1862 during a wide-ranging meeting, the French Emperor Napoleon III asked Commissioner John Slidell why the Confederacy didn’t have a navy capable of breaking the blockade.
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