Why Commonwealth Tribal history required archival visits

Travel restrictions disrupted plans to examine Haida, Vampire, and their associated archives. Writing those sections from published secondary histories alone would have made the argument depend too heavily on other historians' research. Secondary works can guide a researcher toward archives and better questions without replacing the underlying investigation. Direct visits would allow interpretations to be tested against primary material and the surviving ships. These constraints explain both the research ethics involved and the resulting gaps in a class history that otherwise concentrates on British service.