Ezra II went into business with his father in 1798 and the name of the company became E. Weston and Son. In 1831 Ezra II built six vessels, ships and brigs, one being the Eliza Warwick of 530 tons, which was a large vessel for those days.
Captain Arthur H. Clark, a reliable maritime historian, wrote "Ezra Weston was the most famous of the old-time Boston ship-owners. The Westons were easily the largest ship-owners of their time in the United States, and not only built but loaded their own vessels"
If all the vessels built and owned by the Westons from 1800 to 1842 were to have sailed in a column, with only a ship's length between them, they would have formed a line four miles long. There were 21 ships, one bark, thirty two brigs, 35 schooners and 10 sloops.
Ezra II broadened his firms activities until he was almost a self contained industry. He owned timber lands of oak and pine for use in his shipyard. The ships were provisioned with vegetables, beef and park from Weston farms, fish caught by his schooners were salted and sent back out for use as an article of commerce. The Weston rope walk, spar yard, sail loft, blacksmith shop and forge were all part of keeping his fleet afloat.
