Why Ashmore and Brind describe Tsingtao differently

Why do Ashmore's memoir and Brind's account differ over the Tsingtao incident?

Brind knew more about the whole operation and his reasons for issuing orders; Ashmore saw his own assignment. Consular records were still needed to check Brind's account.

Midshipman Edward Ashmore knew the orders passed to his boarding party and could observe his own part of the confrontation. Captain Brind's report included other officers' activities, the information reaching him, and his reasons for making decisions. Their different access to information helps explain differences between the accounts. Brind's fuller view still needed independent confirmation from consular records. The relevant Foreign Office files had been discarded before transfer to the National Archives, but the British consul's papers had been located in the Bodleian Library. Access to those papers remained pending in 2021, so finding them had not yet resolved the comparison.