Gloucester Rowing Association

The Gloucester Gig Rowers started in 1985, when a group of Cape Ann women asked boat builder Larry Dahlmer to build them a boat inspired by the Scilly Isles pilot gigs of Southwest England. The result was the Siren Song — a 30’, plywood-construction gig launched in October of 1987. The original group of women remained active until the early 1990s. Siren Song was later loaned to rowing programs at the Hull Life Saving Museum, Gloucester Museum School, and in Kittery, Maine. In the spring of 2001, Siren Song returned to Gloucester. Ann Banks organized a rowing program within the newly-formed Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center. Between 2004-2007, a second boat – Gannet – was built by Dave Condino; this one more in the tradition of the older English pilot gigs. Over the winter-spring of 2012, we commissioned a new gig to be built at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, and named it the Annie B in honor of our own Ann Banks. In 2017, we retired the original Siren Song and replaced her with a new gig, built to our specifications by Lowell’s Boat Shop in Amesbury, Massachusetts.