Phil,
That is sort of what I figured as well but I was not sure and here is why.
Two months ago I wired a one wire alternator on our racing TR8. I wired the output of the alternator to the large starter lug that got its' feed straight from the battery. We started the car and the alternator shot blue flame out, big sparks, then caught fire in a big puff of flame. Not good.
So, I assume that the alternator that blew up was bad and was bad from the factory, not from my wiring, but one could not tell. When I got another alternator and put it on I went straight to the battery so I never tested it again. Worked fine.
FF to today and you can see my apprehension. I was just wondering if there was something I didn't catch about a feed through a starter lug I didn't know about.