Henry Aston Barker left England in September 1799, and after calling at Lisbon, Gibraltar, and Mahon in Minorca, arrived at Palermo in December. Here he was entertained by Lady Hamilton and met Nelson. He reached Constantinople early in 1800, and spent much of his time working on drawings for his panorama of the city. His journal describes scenes in Turkey such as a procession, a dinner in a Turkish household, and the whirling dervishes.