Captain Henry Bury was born in about 1846. He was the son of William and Margaret (Oughton sic) Bury and he was the Grandson of John C. Bury, one of the early settlers of Kent County.
He married Martha Lark, daughter of Richard and Jane Lark of Chatham, Ontario on March 27, 1867 in Kent County, Ontario.
To this union were born Henry Arthur Bury and Emma Bury Barnier.
- Henry “Arthur” Bury was born October 12, 1870. At Sombra, Lambton County he was unmarried on September 7, 1910. His life came to a tragic end when he fell off a motor boat and drowned.
- Emma Bury was born in about 1876 and she married Francis Barnier in Chatham, Kent County on August 3, 1911 and to this union were born – Harry, James, Bertha, Marie, Alfreda, and Annie.
Captain Henry Bury’s life came to a sad ending on November 22, 1883 while operating the steamer Eclipse in the waters of Lake Huron, near Little Pike Bay, the Eclipse went down.
The steamer the Eclipse was towing was the barge Etta, which was loaded with wood. They had left Algoma Mills on November 15, 1883 heading, to Port Sarnia. On their way they stopped at Rattlesnake Harbour, Manitoulin Island and remained there until November 21, 1883. When they left Rattlesnake Harbour they intended to make it to Southampton.
Captain Bush of the ‘Etta’ left the barge that night to board the ‘Eclipse’ leaving John Drew alone on the bridge of the Etta. Mr. Drew was up until about 10:00 p.m. – they had just passed Cove Island light when he retired to bed. He slept until about 4:00 a.m., then he dressed and went on deck.
John Drew reported that when he went onto the deck he could see nothing of the Eclipse and realized that he was cast adrift and was alone on Lake Huron and a gale was raging. After a while he heard the whistle of the Eclipse sound several times and then there was silence and he never seen the Eclipse again.
At daylight Mr. Drew said that he could see land about a mile away and that at about 4:00 p.m. the barge went aground at Little Pike. He started walking what he thought to be sixteen miles to Wiarton.
John Drew was the only surviving member of the crew of the steamer Eclipse – barge Etta. He said that he didn’t know the names of the others. Seven lives were lost including that of Captain Henry Bury.
Three fishermen were out in a boat at Pine Tree Harbor and found three bodies floating near the shore, all were wearing life preservers marked the Eclipse. Two of the bodies were identified by the papers they had with them – one being Captain Bush of the barge Etta and the other J. Moore, engineer of the Eclipse.
In December two more bodies washed ashore and were described as being a man with light hair and of stout build – papers found with him were dated Sault Ste. Marie and the other body could not be identified. They were wearing life preservers and were buried at Johnston’s Harbour along with one other individual from the Eclipse.
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