Anchor Restoration Project
Students from Thousand Islands Secondary School (TISS) will restore a small piece of Brockville’s history for all to see.
Students under the guidance of art teacher David Sheridan are participating in a unique project that will restore an anchor scavenged from the Brockville Narrows in the St. Lawrence River to create a showpiece for the new Maritime Discovery Centre museum.
The students, working in partnership with developer Simon Fuller, the Canadian Conservation Institute, and the local chapter of Save Ontario Shipwrecks (SOS), will clean up the anchor, research its origin and restore it as a museum piece as part of a multi-disciplinary learning project.
The students were on hand Friday as the anchor was removed from the waters off Blockhouse Island. It was placed there a decade ago, after its unlawful removal was stopped by SOS members and City Police when a scavenger tried to remove it without a permit.
Sheridan said getting the students involved with the museum project offers several important benefits.
“This is good for students on so many different levels,” said Sheridan. “There is the community experience of having been a part of something very large – putting a piece of history on display in a museum. To be a part of that is a very honourable thing.
“They also get to learn about their heritage. They are used to seeing heritage in Ontario as they drive down the roads in the province or shop in downtown Brockville, but they will learn there is an incredible amount of heritage in our waterways too.”
Students power-washed the anchor to remove zebra mussels and other debris. The anchor will now be stored at TISS, where chemistry students will be involved in a science experiment using electrolysis to determine if the anchor’s metal has impurities as a result of its 50-year stay on the river bottom. Students with the Manufacturing Specialist High Skills Major Program will later clean the anchor with wire brushes and wash it with tannic acid to stabilize it and prevent further corrosion.
Their peers in the media arts class at TISS will be taking pictures and video as the project progresses and research the anchor to try to discover which ship it might have come from. They will use their work to create a documentary about the restoration.
Long-term plans for the anchor are to install it in the third floor museum planned for the MDC.
TISS students involved with the project say they are excited about restoring a piece of the area’s heritage.
“I think it will be a cool experience because it is part of our history,” said Marina Hock, a Grade 12 student.
“It will be a big deal to have it on display in Brockville. It will be something people can come to see and it will be a tourist attraction.”
For more information, please call:
David Sheridan, Art Teacher, (613) 342-1100