Brig (snow) Britannia, b Liverpool 1802, 205t, 13' draught.
Registered Waterford, owned Morgan & Co.
Captain John Nield
Ashore below Parkgate 5 Dec 1822.
Chester newspaper report:
The cheese Brig Britannia, John Nield, Master, which was driven
ashore below Parkgate by the storm, in our River [Dee], on the Thursday evening.
The Brig was loaded for London, with 105 tons of cheese, from
Chester, 29 tons of ginger, 10 tons of raisins, etc; from Liverpool. They are
getting the cheeses out as well as they can, but they are much damaged. Two flats
arrived at Chester, with part of them. It much feared the ginger, etc. will not
be got out, as the vessel is broken through the middle, and gets worse every
tide. We have this moment a letter put into our hands from the Captain, stating
the distressed state she is in. (All hands are saved). Great praise is due to
the Captain, and Capt. P. Evans of the Mars, of the same trade, for their
able and their very active assistance saving as much of the cargo as possible,
and Mr. Win. for paying all attention to getting a number of hands to clear the
cheese when landed at Chester by the lighters.
It is possible that the Britannia was refloated and repaired after being driven ashore although she is described as "broken" and does not appear in later Lloyd's Registers. Also a report claims that a vessel (erroneously thought to be the Packet Hero) had run aground on Salisbury Bank in the lower Dee Estuary during the storm on 5 December. This report might have arisen from confusing the Britannia with the Hero - they were both 2-masted vessels of around 100 tons burthen. The Britannia, with her 13 ft draught, might well have been moored for loading at Dawpool where there was deeper water - this is near Salisbury Bank.