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 2 of his account of the voyage, published in 1834, the ship's surgeon describes Central America and Panama, and summarises the expedition's scientific findings.

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 2 describes Central America and Panama, where, after successfully completing longitude measurements using rockets, Captain Foster tragically drowned. The second half of the volume summarises the scientific observations made during the voyage, and contains the cumulative index.