> During one particularly bad period of five or six years, Harris learned, lightning destroyed 40 ships of the line, 20 frigates, and 10 sloops, disabling about

> During one particularly bad period of five or six years, Harris learned, lightning destroyed 40 ships of the line, 20 frigates, and 10 sloops, disabling about one-eighth of the British navy. I wonder if Harris reported literally those numbers, or if the OP is exaggerating them. If Harris reported them then I'm not too surprised Barrow thought Harris was a charlatan. True or not, they sound like an obvious, absurd exaggeration.