When Katie (Herreshoff) DeWolf’s daughters Katherine and Louise reached boating age, they received an elegant little rowing boat for their own use – as befit their station as daughters of the Herreshoff family.

JACK is a little longer, wider and deeper than GEM and of heavier construction. It, too, is completely original, with oars, 4 oarlocks, 4 leather fenders, a rudder with a yoke and rope steering lines, and a boathook. Along with GEM, Louise bequeathed JACK to the Museum in 1986. Where the name came from remains a mystery, though it has been suggested “Jack” may have been the girls’ nickname for their grandfather…

It has long been estimated that JACK was built by HMCo. around 1913 when the girls came of boating age. However, there is no record from that period of a small rowboat job number that matches JACK’s dimensions exactly, and so JACK’s precise year of construction remains a mystery. It is possible that this little rowboat was originally carried on J.B.H.’s yachts EUGENIA III and/or EUGENIA IV, and was subsequently gifted to his granddaughters. Several small rowboats appear on EUGENIA IV’s davits in historic photos, but there is no record of J.B.H. having ordered a rowboat for EUGENIA IV. EUGENIA III did however have a rowboat ordered in 1900 that matches JACK’s dimensions. Is it possible that JACK was first used aboard EUGENIA III, passed to EUGENIA IV, and then given to the girls?