Family hopes chair said to be made from anchor from Halifax Explosion is preserved

A family says it hopes a decades-old chair believed to be partly made from the anchor of one of the ships that collided in the Halifax Explosion is preserved.

The chair is on a private property on Basinview Drive, near the Bedford Basin, that used to be owned by the Hines family.

READ MORE: New time capsule in the works for Halifax Explosion anniversary

“Throughout the ’50s and ’60s when all my cousins and myself and my brothers and sisters would come here, everyone would want to sit in the chair,” John Hines said on Monday. “One kid would pull the other kid out and jump in, and another kid would pull him out and jump in, and it’s very iconic for the Hines family.”

He said his grandfather bought the house in the late ’40s or early ’50s as a summer home, and the chair was placed by the prior owners on Nov. 11, 1936.

The explosion, caused by two ships colliding, resulted in about 2,000 deaths and thousands more wounded. An event marking its 100-year anniversary was held last year.

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“Legend has it that the” chair’s backrest is an anchor’s fluke, and the rest of the chair is made of concrete, Hines said, citing what his grandfather told him the prior owners of the property had said.

He said he’s not aware of any researcher having examined the chair before.

READ MORE: Nova Scotia capital commemorates catastrophic Halifax Explosion 100 years ago

Global News has not been able to independently confirm the authenticity of the backrest’s origins.

Some of last photos of his older brother and his father, separately, are of the men in the chair, Hines aid.

“If the chair could talk, it would know way more than I ever could,” Katy Jean said with a laugh.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If the chair could talk, it would know way more than I ever could," Katy Jean said with a laugh.

Jean is Hines’ daughter, and she said she hopes the chair is preserved and, perhaps, incorporated with whatever the future holds for the land.

“If not, I think it would be really fitting to go into the new Shannon Park trail, and be placed near the Narrows since it’s kind of its origin story,” Jean, who tweeted about the chair, said.

Somewhere near the Dartmouth waterfront could be another option for placement, she said.

“I am going to miss the chair. I hope I can still see it a lot longer and that my son will see it, too,”  Jean said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I am going to miss the chair. I hope I can still see it a lot longer and that my son will see it, too,"  Jean said.

A request for more information from the organization said to now own the property wasn’t immediately returned.