That's more or less what I meant by saying it was rather parochial, Little Hawk. (It was more a characterisation than an objection.)

Taking the steamer across the channel, yes, but to where? France? So there is the implication that while England has been attacked France will be safe?

Arguably, I suppose you could assume smaller islands would be safer than large land masses for a while...

At least modern interpretations, which are usually bad in many other ways, often have a 'news flash'of some kind saying this is happening everywhere.