Discovery was fitted with a 450-horsepower coal-fired triple expansion steam engine, but had to rely primarily on sail because the coal bunkers did not have sufficient capacity to take the ship on long voyages.

Following the practice of the most modern sailing ships of the time, the windjammers, she carried split topsails to reduce the size of the deck crew needed to handle them.

The construction made it impossible to install portholes (and fitting them would have weakened the hull), so the crew relied on 'mushroom vents' on the deck to allow air and light into the interior.

In this time she served as the yacht of the RGS during Cowes Week and was toured by several dignitaries, culminating in a visit by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on 5 August.

Scott's first impression of the ship was poor, considering her slow and unresponsive while the shallow hull, built with no protuberances to work well in ice, provided minimal stability.

The ship was put in dry dock for the first time at Lyttelton and the carpenter, Frederick Dailey, prepared a lengthy report detailing the numerous empty bolt holes and slack hull fittings he found.

Attempts were made to force the ship ahead over the obstruction and back her off but the engine lacked the power and the water intakes for her condenser became blocked by ice and churned-up dirt.

The start of the First World War saw the planned expedition postponed and Stackhouse died in the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915, while returning from a fundraising trip to New York City.

Discovery departed from Kingston upon Hull and travelled to Gibraltar and across the Mediterranean Sea, reached Istanbul in late August and passed through the Dardanelles and docked at Novorossiysk in September.

This was taken to Piraeus (reached on 1 December) and then the ship returned to Istanbul where she loaded a general cargo including bags of nuts, linseed, rugs and carpets, caviar, mohair and copper sheet.

The ship was fitted with several winches for handling sounding lines and deep-water trawling nets with cables totalling thousands of fathoms in length, plus an early electronic echo sounder.

The final aspects of the refit and trials had been rushed in order to reach the Southern Ocean before the start of the whaling season in November, which led to a number of faults developing in the ship as she sailed through the Bay of Biscay and she had to put into Dartmouth for repairs and modifications which took two months.

The ship reached South Georgia on 20 February and was based there for two months while her crew of scientists and seamen worked alongside the whalers, both on shore at Grytviken and at sea, examining the remains of the caught and processed whales and observing their numbers and movements.

Due to her delayed departure from Britain these voyages were made in the depths of the South Atlantic winter and the ship's excessive roll, high windage and limited engine power all caused difficulties in her work.

On 17 April 1926, Discovery left Grytviken and sailed for the Falkland Islands before returning to Cape Town on 29 June, having taken five weeks to make the eastbound voyage in heavy seas while carrying out her research work.

The difficulties encountered led to Discovery being placed in dry dock at the Simon's Town naval base for three months to be fitted with bilge keels to improve her stability.

When the Norvegia expedition annexed Bouvet Island for Norway in December 1927, political pressure meant that it was swiftly arranged for Discovery to be leased to Australia free of charge.

Discovery left London on 1 August 1929, carrying a complement of 25 officers and men, some scientific equipment and a partially-dismantled de Havilland DH.60 Moth light aircraft on her deck, which was to be used for aerial survey work.

The twelve scientists, including zoologists, biologists, an ornithologist, a cartographer and a hydrologist, as well as veteran Antarctic photographer Frank Hurley, also joined the ship here.

Captain Davis was beginning to worry about his coal supplies, leading to more disagreements with Mawson who refused to let up on the expedition's scientific work which added greatly to the fuel consumption and distance travelled.

With Davis still refusing to risk the ship close inshore, Mawson made a flight over Enderby Land on 25 January and dropped a second flag three miles (4.8 km) inland.

Severe weather meant that Mawson had to abandon his plans for a cruise to Queen Mary Land and instead Discovery carried out a month of biological and oceanographic work in the waters around the islands until she headed for Australia, reaching Adelaide on 1 April 1930.

On 1 December the ship anchored off Macquarie Island, where shore parties were put ashore to study wildlife, the inland lakes and plants while Discovery made soundings and surveys in the coastal waters.

For eight hours Discovery was repeatedly slammed into and onto thick ice and battered by bergs but MacKenzie was able to slowly work the ship offshore by use of the engine and, despite the fierce wind, sails.

The aerial team relocated a coastline originally found by the United States Exploring Expedition in 1840 and renamed it and the newly surveyed land around it as the Banzare Coast.

As both Davis and MacKenzie found, it was increasingly difficult to find crew with sufficient experience to man traditional sailing vessels and when used purely as a steamship Discovery lacked the engine power and bunker capacity for the work required.

During the Second World War Discovery served as the headquarters and depot ship for the River Emergency Service, a network of first aid stations and 'floating ambulances' using requisitioned pleasure craft.

Previously it was thought these had been scrapped to provide material for the war effort, but in 2016 a 1943 advert by a salvage firm was found offering the entire contents of the engine room for sale as a single lot, suggesting the equipment was removed for reuse although its ultimate fate is unknown.

On 28 March 1986, Discovery left London aboard the semi-submersible docklift ship Happy Mariner to make her journey home to the Scottish city that had built her.

Since the 1990s, the Discovery Point museum has concentrated on interpreting the vessel on all of her voyages, with personal items from the ship's crew as well as information on her scientific activities.