[R] Error: not 'a real'?

[Brian]

Hi List,

when supplying a vector of atomic vector classes to read.table, I get:
# column classes
colClasses=c("character", "character","numeric", "numeric", "numeric", 
"numeric", "numeric", "numeric",
                                             "numeric", "numeric", 
"numeric", "numeric")
# Error:
Error in scan(file, what, nmax, sep, dec, quote, skip, nlines, 
na.strings,  (from #2) :
   scan() expected 'a real', got '894.6'

How is '894.6' not 'a real [number]'?

Thanks for the ensuing enlightenment or punishment...

Best,
Brian