Wooden flat Primrose, owned Bate, Kelsterton, Flint. During a severe storm, on 13 January 1843, wrecked off Gayton in the Dee estuary with the loss of all aboard. Three bodies were recovered and named, Captain William Harding and two crew, at the inquest. A later report describes the discovery of the body of the captain's wife, Mrs Porter, later in the year. Some elements of these two reports are inconsistent. Possibly vessel registered at Liverpool 46/1838, 52 tons.
Dee, owned Roskell, Fflint, all 4 aboard lost on 13th January in Dee estuary. Possibly vessel registered Liverpool 34/1836, 40 tons. More detail - see here, which names Captain as Porter, lost with his wife,....
Wooden schooner Isabella of Belfast. Possibly that reported in Lloyd's Register 1842: 96 tons, built Nova Scotia 1828, trading Liverpool to Marseilles. Ashore on West Hoyle, near Gronant, all lost. See also here.
[from Chester Chronicle - Friday 20 January 1843]:
Wrecks on the Dee. On Friday night, 15th inst., during the severe
gale, the Primrose flat, belonging to Mr Bate, Kelsterton, Flint, laden
with soap waste, was totally wrecked off Gayton, near Parkgate. Wm.
Harding, Thomas Bennett and James Bennett, seamen on board of her were
drowned. An account of the inquest will found in another part of our
paper. The Dee, a vessel belonging to Mr. Roskell, of Flint, was also
lost the same night, and all hands, four in number, lost. The body of
one has only been found, that of John Hughes. A vessel, name unknown,
was also wrecked near West Hoyle, under Gronant; two bodies have been
washed ashore.
Distressing Occurrence. On the 17th inst., an inquest was taken at Gayton, rear Parkgate, on view of the bodies of William Harding, Thomas Bennett, and James Bennett, three young mariners who were on board the Primrose Flat, laden with soap waste, the property Mr. Bate of Kelsterton. The flat had been sunk on Friday evening last, near to the place where she was found a total wreck on the following morning by some Chester fishermen who had discerned the wreck, on which they found the Captain lashed to the rigging, and close to his side the body of Thomas Bennett; the third body was afterwards discovered in the stern end of the flat. The bodies were removed to the summer-house of Col. Glegg, where they were permitted to remain until the inquiry took place. A verdict of found drowned was recorded.
The coroner for Flintshire held four inquests on Monday. One on view of the body of Jonathan Porter, boatman from near Connah's Quay; he had gone out on the morning of Friday last, and was found drowned under Greenfield, in the parish of Holywell; one on view of the body of John Hughes found drowned in the River Dee, belonging to the Dee, a vessel of Mr. Roskell, of Flint, which was lost on Friday night; two others on view of the bodies of two men unknown, which were found near West Hoyle.
[from Liverpool Albion - Monday 16 January 1843]:
Sunday Jan 15. Several pieces of wreck, apparently of a large vessel,
painted yellow inside, and part of a barometer made in Marseilles, have
been washed ashore on Hilbre Island [presumably from Isabella]. The
schooner Isabella, of Belfast, for Runcorn, laden with pipeclay, &c.,
was wrecked on West Hoyle on Friday night. Two flats are ashore in
Hoylake.
[from Chester Chronicle - Friday 21 July 1843]:
Recovery of the body of Mrs. Porter. During the storm that raged about
Christmas last, when such immense wrecks and loss life occurred on our
coast, it will be remembered, that among the number, we recorded the
loss of a flat, The Primrose, off Hilbre Island, with its crew and
commander, Mr. Porter and his wife. On Thursday last, a surviving son
of the unfortunate commander was cruising about the identical spot where
the flat went down. We can better imagine than describe the sensations
of the youth, when he was the first to behold the floating corpse of his
maternal parent. It appeared to have been imbedded in the sand for the
long period, the sudden moving of which had brought it to surface.