Points of the compass 32-wind compass rose is yielded from the eight principal winds, eight half-winds and sixteen quarter-winds combined together, with each compass direction point at an ° angle from the next. In the mariner's exercise of boxing the compass, all thirty-two points of the compass are named in clockwise order. The traditional compass rose of eight winds (and its 16-wind and 32-wind derivatives) was invented by seafarers in the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages (with no obvious connection to the twelve classical compass winds of the ancient Greeks and Romans). The traditional mariner's wind names were expressed in Italian, or more
Solar compass as was suggested to him on the faith he would get paid for his patent of such a valuable instrument. However the compensation indicated did not materialize in Burt's lifetime or at any time thereafter. Since there was no patent on Burt's solar compass after 1850, instrument makers sold "Burt's solar compass" to surveyors. In the preface to his " Key to the Solar Compass and Surveyor's Companion " published in 1858 by his associate William S. Young, Burt refers to the many requests for such a book on how to use his solar compass. He explains a magnetic compass