Burt's father gave him a book on navigation that was published in 1779 when he was about fifteen years old. He pursued studies on this on his own at any leisure moment he had from his duties he was responsible for on the family farm. He was inspired to someday become a master of a boat. Burt motivated himself to learn the traverse table and the method of determining latitude. He developed mechanical skills which enabled him to construct a quadrant instrument. With this he determined the latitude of his father's house with a good degree of accuracy, even though he had never seen a nautical instrument before. He was also interested in astronomy and studied almanacs and navigation.