The author of an upcoming book celebrating the achievements of boat builders in Bermuda, the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos was on the Island last week undertaking research.

Kendal Butler, a senior officer for the Ministry of Public Works and Immigration for the Bahamas, researched and wrote ‘The History of Boat Builders of the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos’ in his spare time. Last week he was making final touches on the book, which he has been working on for the past ten and a half years.

Once complete, the Bahamian government has agreed to publish the book.

Mr. Butler said the the work of boat builders in all three of his focus nations was key to the their social, cultural, political and economic development.

Without the work of these highly skilled labourers these islands might have remained backward and isolated.

“Bermuda is a speck in the ocean, but Bermuda would be on the cutting edge of the type of cutlery and clothes (in fashion), because of their locally built boats,” Mr. Butler said.

“The book is not just about Bermuda, but the three (nations) are similar in their development.”

Mr. Butler’s great-great-great grandfather, Isaac Monroe, built schooners, sloops and dinghies, until he died in 1900 and was the inspiration for Mr. Butler’s book.

“My work started in the Bahamas at the Department of the Archives, looking at the birth and death records and profession of the deceased,” said the author.

“I then went to the Turks and Caicos and did the same thing and also in Bermuda. I also talked to the elderly in their 90s and over 100 years old in all three countries.

“In some cases I had to go to churches and also to folklore in songs. In the Bahamas we have lots of songs composed to celebrate the boats.”

Not only were boats important, but so were the people who made them and Mr. Butler set out to record and honour their accomplishments.

“In the Bahamas we have settlements,” he said. “In the 1800s, there were no roads. If there was a beach then you could walk between settlements. If not, the only way was by boats — locally made boats. The important people in the settlement, then, were the Justice of the Peace, the midwives, the Pastor and the ship builder as the Bahamas stretches over hundreds of miles.”

While Mr. Butler decided to help his country in the office rather than on a boat, he still manages to sail for pleasure and while he was in Bermuda, he was invited on the Spirit of Bermuda.

“On Friday morning I was invited by Malcolm Kirkland, the executive director, to visit and give a 12 to 15 minute talk to the young crew members and I was given a tour,” Mr. Butler said.

“I am very jealous. I wish I could take it back to the Bahamas. It is a work of art and a work of science.”