The Forgotten Garrison

The story goes like this: an Eirish fleet sent on an exploratory expedition discovered a number of islands near the Ardenian Empire's area of control. The expedition's commander sent word back to the base and then decided to make landfall on the islands. Soldiers built a number of forts and settled in for the winter, awaiting the instructions.   None came. For weeks and months, nothing was heard from fleet command on how to proceed from there on. Eventually, the commander decided to send his fleet back home asking for orders and supplies - but the fleet never made it back. The soldiers were stranded and left to fend for themselves. Have they built a new, better society out there in the unknown lands? Have they all perished? Turned to piracy? Nobody knows, but perhaps all three.

While the idea itself is not completely inconceivable, the exact details of it sound rather dubious. A whole regiment would require a lot of supplies on a daily basis, and that is not the number of men that would be sent on a scouting expedition anyways. It could be reasoned that more men were sent because it was near the Ardenian waters, but then the navy command would know where the regiment is supposed to be. And nobody tried to reach them in months?   Little factual evidence exists to support the claim as well. No regiment was reported as missing at the time, although it was not unheard of for individual companies to disappear in transit - either perishing to the ocean or turning to piracy. Some claim that the records were hidden by the guilty officials, but that would mean coordinated efforts across near all of Eirish administration. And finally, if nobody has made it back from the island - how do we know the tale?