Lloyd's List reported different armaments and complements from those in Markham's official return, including much larger figures for Courageuse and Junon. It also described both smaller vessels as sixteen-gun corvettes even though the naval return gave Salamine eighteen guns and Alerte fourteen. The commercial paper was probably working from information ultimately derived from the same naval reporting system, yet the figures still diverged. An apparently authoritative contemporary source is not automatically definitive when another document was produced closer to the capture.
Notable Point · 1:42:29-1:43:58
Official and commercial reports disagree on the prizes
Lloyd's List and Markham's official return give sharply different gun and crew totals, demonstrating why even near-contemporary naval records require comparison.