M65&M66 where discovered in March 1780, and even though a comet went through between these two galaxies around that time messier failed to observ it.
I have attached a page from The Messier Album forward by
Owen Gingerich, re the scopes used by Messier.
Ngc 3628 would be quite faint in the scopes Messier used, but there is the possibility that he just moved the scope in the opposite direction.
