Luke & Co
former boatbuilding firm in the United Kingdom
Luke & Co was a boatbuilding firm, established in 1829 in Limehouse near London. They moved to Oakbank at Itchen Ferry in 1868, and in 1895, settled at Hamble. At Hamble, they designed and built yachts of all sizes, as well as providing all kinds of services to the yachts visiting or having a berth at the river. The river Hamble was a popular place to "lay up" yachts for the winter.
Early days
There are at least three members of the Luke family known as boatbuilders: W. S. (Walter Smith) Luke (1844–1904), and his sons Walter G. Luke (born 1868) and Albert R. Luke (born 1875). The name of the yard changed over the years from W. S. Luke to W. G. Luke & Co (1895), to Hamble River Luke & Co. Ltd., and finally Luke Bros.
When W. S. Luke died in March 1904, his sons took over the yard: Albert ("Bert") as designer, and Walter managing the boatyard.
In their early days they built Itchen Ferrys, Fishing Smacks, Pilot boats and other sorts of working boats, like a 75-foot Lifeship to a design by Capt. Hans Busk in 1873.
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This entry incorporates text from “Luke & Co” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.