Ray,

That is a fantastic piece of research!  It is very difficult to see how Bulstrode could have misread that report, the description she gives exactly fits the condition of the Princess Royal and it was she alone that sailed into Portsmouth, separating from the others, including the Abby, 500 leagues out (1,700 non nautical miles).  Not sure why she did not put into Plymouth though, if things were that dire.

There are an awful lot of references given in the paper, I wonder how many others of them are similarly distorted.