HMS Chanticleer sailed to the South Atlantic under the experienced surveyor Captain Henry Foster to study longitude and the figure of the earth. In Volume 1 of his account of the voyage, published in 1834, the ship's surgeon describes his impressions of South America (including South Shetland) and South Africa.

W. H. B. Webster (1793-1875) studied medicine and surgery in London, and in 1815 signed up to serve in the Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon. Because it was peacetime, however, he did not secure a position until 1828, when he was posted as ship's surgeon on the South Atlantic scientific mission of HMS Chanticleer under Captain Henry Foster (1796-1831), a Fellow of the Royal Society with extensive experience of surveying expeditions. Published in 1834, this is Webster's two-volume account of the Chanticleer voyage, the objectives of which included work on longitudes, and carrying out gravity pendulum experiments at various latitudes to attempt more accurate calculation of the shape of the earth. Volume 1 covers the first two years of the voyage, and records Webster's impressions of South America, South Shetland (including some of the earliest scientific experiments in the Antarctic), South Africa, St Helena and Ascension Island.