Actually, page 20 of Gateway states it's the 1st of December, and earlier on pages 3 & 6 places the ship at Bremmershaven on the 16th of November.
Also, just because NA went public on the 1st of Jan 2001 doesn't mean they weren't already active. We can see this is true because of the Letter of Marque in the strongbox which could be recovered on the 1st of December as well as all the arms provided to Hammersmith's pirates on Carriacou, not to mention Jones' job to kidnap the girls, which he knows has come from "New America".
With all that NA activity in the area, it's quite possible the PCs and through them Captain Christiansen, find out about St Petersburg potentially being not as friendly as hoped. At the very least a cautious approach would be in order and absolutely well within character for the captain.
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If it moves, shoot it, if not push it, if it still doesn't move, use explosives.
Nothing happens in isolation - it's called "the butterfly effect"
Mors ante pudorem
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