The senior of the ten officers who messed with Scott in the small
wardroom of the _Discovery_ was Lieutenant A. B. Armitage, R.N.R.
He brought with him not only an excellent practical seamanship
training in sailing ships, but also valuable Polar experience;
for the P. and O. Company, in which he held a position, had in
1894 granted him leave of absence to join the Jackson-Harmsworth
Expedition to Franz-Josef Land.

Reginald Koettlitz, the senior doctor, had also seen Arctic service
in the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition. As his medical duties were
expected to be light, he combined them with those of official botanist.

The task of Thomas V. Hodgson, biologist, was to collect by hook
or crook all the strange beasts
[Page 26]
that inhabit the Polar seas, and no greater enthusiast for his work
could have been chosen.

Charles W. R. Royds was the first lieutenant, and had all to do
with the work of the men and the internal economy of the ship in
the way that is customary with a first lieutenant of a man-of-war.
Throughout the voyage he acted as meteorologist, and in face of
great difficulties he secured the most valuable records.

Michael Barne, the second naval lieutenant, had served with Scott in
the Majestic. 'I had thought him,' Scott wrote after the expedition
had returned, 'as he proved to be, especially fitted for a voyage
where there were many elements of dangers and difficulty.'

The original idea in appointing two doctors to the _Discovery_ was