United States
                            Securities and Exchange Commission
                                   Washington, D.C. 20549


                                        SCHEDULE 13D


                          Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
                                      (Amendment No. 18)


                        John Hancock Patriot Premium Dividend Fund II
                                      (Name of Issuer)


                                        Common Stock
                               (Title of Class of Securities)


                                         41013T-10-5
                                       (CUSIP Number)



                                  The Commerce Group, Inc.
                                     211 Main Street
                                    Webster, MA 01570
                                     (508) 943-9000
                         (Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person
                        Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications)



                                         December 12, 2005
                   (Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)


If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G to 
report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing 
this schedule because of Section 240.Rule 13d-1(e), 240.13d-1(f) or 240.13d-
1(g), check the following box:   [ ]

The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not be 
deemed to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange 
Act of 1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of 
the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see 
the Notes).
















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CUSIP No.: 41013T-10-5                      THE COMMERCE GROUP, INC.
                                            SCHEDULE 13D
                                            AMENDMENT No. 18
                                            DECEMBER 20, 2005




1.       NAME OF REPORTING PERSON 
         S.S. OR I.R.S. ID NO. OF ABOVE PERSON

         The Commerce Group Inc.
         ID# 04-2599931

2.       CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP 
                                                          (a) [  ] 
                                                          (b) [  ]

3.       SEC USE ONLY

4.       SOURCE OF FUNDS                                      [WC]

5        CHECK BOX IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL                     [  ]
         PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEM 2(d) OR 2(e)

6.       CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION

                   Massachusetts

         NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH

         SOLE VOTING POWER                             6,017,500
         SHARED VOTING POWER                                   0
         SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER                        6,017,500
         SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER                              0

11.      AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON

               6,017,500

12.      CHECK IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES 
         CERTAIN SHARES    [    ]

13.      PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11) 
            40.0%

14.      TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON 
           [HC]



















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CUSIP No.: 41013T-10-5                      THE COMMERCE GROUP, INC.
                                            SCHEDULE 13D
                                            AMENDMENT No. 18
                                            DECEMBER 20, 2005


ITEM 1.  SECURITY AND ISSUER

     This Schedule 13D relates to the shares of beneficial interest (the 
"Shares"), of John Hancock Patriot Premium Dividend Fund II (the "Fund"), a 
Massachusetts business trust registered as an investment company under the 
Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act").  
The principal executive offices of the Fund are located at 101 Huntington 
Avenue, Boston, MA, 02119-7603.


ITEM 2.  IDENTITY AND BACKGROUND

     (a) - (f) This Schedule 13D is being filed by The Commerce Group Inc. 
(the "Reporting Person"), a corporation formed under the laws of 
Massachusetts.  The Reporting Person is a corporation whose principal offices 
are located at 211 Main Street Webster, MA 01570.


ITEM 3.  SOURCE AND AMOUNT OF FUNDS OR OTHER CONSIDERATION

     The source of the funds used by the Reporting Person to purchase shares 
listed in Item 5(a) was working capital.  This amount of the funds used to 
purchase such shares reported in Annex A aggregated approximately 
$1,646,309.24.


ITEM 4.  PURPOSE OF TRANSACTION

     No material change has taken place since the previous filing.


ITEM 5.  INTEREST IN SECURITIES OF THE ISSUER

     (a) The Fund's reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission report 
that 15,046,539 Shares are outstanding.  Based upon such number, the Reporting 
Person beneficially owns 40.0% of the Fund's outstanding Shares.

     (b) The Reporting Person is the beneficial owner (through its insurance 
subsidiary as listed below) of 6,017,500 shares, over which it has sole power 
of disposition and voting.  Such number of Shares represents approximately 
40.0% of the outstanding Shares.


                                              Shares                Cost

   The Commerce Insurance Company            6,017,500         $65,961,947


     (c) During the period from October 17, 2005 through December 12, 2005, 
the Reporting Person has effected the following purchases of common stock, all 
of which were made on the New York Stock Exchange (see attached Annex A).  All 
transactions prior to October 17, 2005 were reported on previous Schedule 13D 
filings.

     (d) No person other than the Reporting Person has the right to receive or 
the power to direct the receipt of dividends from, or the proceeds from the 
sale of, the shares of Common Stock owned by the Reporting Person.

     (e) It is inapplicable to state the date on which the Reporting Person 
ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the Common 
Stock.

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CUSIP No.: 41013T-10-5                      THE COMMERCE GROUP, INC.
                                            SCHEDULE 13D
                                            AMENDMENT No. 18
                                            DECEMBER 20, 2005




ITEM 6.  CONTRACTS, ARRANGEMENTS, UNDERSTANDINGS OR RELATIONSHIPS  
         WITH RESPECT TO SECURITIES OF THE ISSUER

     The Reporting Person does not have any contract, arrangement, 
understanding or relationship (legal or otherwise) with any person with 
respect to any securities of the Fund, including, but not limited to, the 
transfer or voting of any such securities, finders' fees, joint ventures, loan 
or option arrangements, puts or calls, guarantees of profits, division of 
profits or loss, or the giving or withholding of proxies.



ITEM 7.  MATERIAL TO BE FILED AS EXHIBITS

   Annex A   Item 5(c) Information





                                            SIGNATURE



After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify 
that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and 
correct.



DECEMBER 20, 2005                           THE COMMERCE GROUP INC.









                                                                       	
                                          Gerald Fels
                                          Executive Vice President & 
                                          Chief Financial Officer












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                                                  ANNEX  A
                                         Item 5 (c) - Information
PDT   41013T-10-5    JOHN HANCOCK PATRIOT DIV FUND II


COMMERCE INSURANCE COMPANY
    PURCHASES

From 10/14/2005 - 12/12/2005

  TRADE           SETTLEMENT         SHARES            PRICE         ACQUISITION
  DATE               DATE           PURCHASED        PER SHARE            COST
                                                                
  10/14/05        10/19/05           1,000           $10.86          $   10,895.00
  10/17/05        10/20/05           5,000            10.92              54,792.00
  10/18/05        10/21/05           7,200            10.90              78,752.88
  10/19/05        10/24/05           5,900            10.94              64,726.54
  10/20/05        10/25/05           1,400            10.95              15,379.00
  10/21/05        10/26/05           4,100            10.79              44,366.51
  10/26/05        10/31/05           7,400            11.15              82,769.00
  10/31/05        11/03/05          19,800            11.09             220,253.22
  11/23/05        11/29/05           5,000            10.39              52,135.00
  11/28/05        12/01/05          26,400            10.49             277,791.36
  11/29/05        12/02/05           6,500            10.42              67,973.75
  12/01/05        12/06/05          11,700            10.45             122,680.35
  12/02/05        12/07/05          16,600            10.49             174,736.58
  12/07/05        12/12/05          11,900            10.33             123,387.53
  12/08/05        12/13/05          11,900            10.31             123,136.44
  12/09/05        12/14/05           3,100            10.32              32,090.58
  12/12/05        12/15/05           9,700            10.32             100,443.50

                   Totals          154,600                           $1,646,309.24










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