Nautical note burning outside (9)
I believe the answer is:
seafaring
'nautical' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'note burning outside' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'fa' (musical note).
'burning' becomes 'searing' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'outside' indicates putting letters inside (some letters go outside others).
'fa' inserted within 'searing' is 'SEAFARING'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for seafaring that I've seen before include "ocean travel" , "So Jack's likely to be" , "Travelling the ocean" , "Sailor's way of life" , "Just like Jack" .)