Thomas Luce & Company - Luce's Fleet

Luce's Fleet

The Thos. Luce Co. owned between eleven and fourteen whaling ships (sources vary), and was the agent for thirty-six whaling voyages between 1886 and 1903, including expeditions by the schooner Francis Allyn, schooner Era, schooner Mary E. Simmons, schooner Antarctic, schooner Clara L. Sparks, bark George & Mary, schooner Sarah W. Hunt, schooner Star King, schooner Pearl Nelson, schooner Charles H. Hodgdon, and the bark Desdemona. George Comer, captain of the Era, complained about the crews the Luce provided, claiming they were unseasoned and inept. Capt. George Comer also wrote about the aging Luce coming to the wharf to see off each expedition.

In 1899, Luce opened a whaling and trading station at the mouth of Wager Bay on Hudson Bay, manned by whaler George Cleveland. Cleveland built a twenty-four by twelve-foot wooden shack and spent two winters there, trading for furs with the local Inuit.

By 1902 Luce’s business began to be referred to as “Thomas Luce & Son” - evidently referring to his youngest son Charles T. Luce (1864 - ____), who was listed as a New Bedford “shipping merchant” by 1900, and was said to be involved in his father’s business. However, the business did not last long into the new century. The company’s final two voyages were in 1903: the Mary E. Simmons, and the Era, which returned to New Bedford in July 1904 and Oct. 1905, respectively. The Luce family sold the Era to New York furrier F. N. Monjo during the winter of 1905-6.

Thomas Luce fully retired about 1907, at the age of eighty. During his final years he traveled with his wife extensively in Europe and spent his winters in Florida and California.