Passport to Inaccuracy

While we have touched extensively on the naval issues on Lake Ontario before, one small detail has come to my attention recently.

At the "Battle" of Limestone Ridge, it is mentioned that the Hamilton Naval Company is attached to the militia order of battle, meaning the men of that company were apparently shooting it out with American troops on the Niagara frontier. However, we know from the flashback in Chapter 10 Pt. 1, that apparently the ship operated by the Hamilton Naval Company, the Passport, is being converted at Kingston.

Now, from the text the naval action there apparently takes place in May as well. This raises the question, how can the naval company be two places at once?

The simple answer is, they can't. The author, either not realizing (more likely not caring) about his mistake blithely rolls on with it. What is interesting, however, is that the author seems to understand he's underselling the Canadians. He could only know about Harbottle through either seeing him in the 1867 militia list he uses as his base, or by reading about the Fenian raids.

Anything beyond a cursory glance would have led the author to realize that in 1862 no less than six naval and marine companies were formed for service on Lake Ontario (the Garden Island Naval Comapny not being formed until January 1863) versus the precisely zero pre-existing naval militia companies or militia infrastructure on the American side.

What this suggests of course is that the author has deliberately chosen to underrate, and reassign, the Anglo-Canadian capabilities on the lakes, for the express purpose of making an easier American victory. Or, the author is lazy. You decide.