The more I check out Burt, the more bogus he looks. Here's more...<br><br><li>Burt's story of being a midshipman on half-pay (p. 55) is a lie.
Midshipmen were in training to be officers, but were not yet officers.
The lowest rank to get <a class="urllink" href="http://www.napoleonguide.com/navy_rnhalfpay.htm" rel="nofollow">half-pay</a> when a ship is "laid up" in reserve was a lieutenant.
</li><li>The <a class="urllink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lion_%281557%29" rel="nofollow">HMS Lion</a>,
Burt's supposed ship (p. 39) was a ship of the line from 1658 to 1677,
and during that time its guns were increased from 48 to 60. It does not
appear to have been "laid up" during the time Burt could have been in
the Royal Navy.
</li><li>Burt's knife was supposed to be very good because it was made of Sheffield steel (p. 55). <a class="urllink" href="http://www.northeastengland.talktalk.net/SouthYorkshire.htm#SHEFFIELD%20STEEL" rel="nofollow">Steel was made in Sheffield</a> from Chaucer's time, but it was not especially good until 1750.
</li><br>