No offence intended, I actually thought the date was a typo.
If you're running the game stock (i.e. out of the box, no mods) you're probably going to be frustrated and annoyed with the "historical" aspects of the game. The locations of enemy ships and their routes is poorly done.
I highly recommend you grab either the TMO or RFB mod in conjunction with RSRD. It strives for more historical accuracy with regard to shipping lanes among other things.
