Charleston Bar is closer to the coast than the 12-15 mile sighting reported to Beauregard by the pilots incoming. The master of the Harriet Lane was under orders to rendevous (see Century Magazine, Nov. 1870 , Fort Sumpter) with the other elements of the expedition.
Your citation three I take as a lack of information on the part of the writing party. There was no "Fleet" at that time off the coast of Charleston, though the certainty (I have no doubt Beauregard was appraised of the situation by sympathetic elements in the US Department of the Navy) of their arrival may have colored the report.