Bermuda needs a ?huge? national monument to mark the vital role boat-builders played in shaping the country.

That?s the verdict from maritime historian Kendal Butler, who gave a speech on the subject at Hamilton Rotary Club yesterday. Mr. Butler, on a short visit to the Island but who hails from Bahamas, is carrying out research on boat-building in Bermuda, Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

And he said Bermuda needed to mark the contribution of maritime craftsmen through the ages ? as the debt the country owed them was incalculable.

He told Rotarians ship-makers ?formed the psyche of the country?.

?Bermuda could not be where it is today were it not for the boat-builders. Nothing could be done in Bermuda without the boats. The place would have been desolate.?

The researcher added: ?You owe them more than you can pay. All that you enjoy today and all that this country has become is because of boat-builders.?

The Bermudian acumen for business began when the country was colonised, said the speaker. ?The first Governor was a boat-builder. It?s no wonder that you are so good with business because you started from the beginning.?

Mr. Butler said more research was needed on a topic he said had been ?written out of history?, before the memories of elderly workers passed away.

And he suggested that monument should be put up in each parish carrying names of residents who worked in ship construction. A ?huge? national monument with all the names should be placed in Hamilton, he added. Mr. Butler, who works as a civil servant in his homeland and whose great, great grandfather built schooners and sloops, said his research so far had shown that from 1,619 Bermuda had 290 boat-builders. The Bahamas produced 1,290.