"It is one thing to die for a noble cause. But it has to be said, what are we really fighting for? Arabia's oil? The mining rights to Africa?"

When the Britannic entered service in December last year, she was equipped with one of the most modern laboratories afloat — if not the most modern. As it is one of the most important places on board, one of the first people newly posted medical personnel meet is Captain Baker, a physician from Surrey, who is responsible for its operation.

Active since the early days of the war, Captain Baker spent the first year of the conflict with a field ambulance in both France and Flanders. However, this changed with the disaster that was the Dardanelles campaign. As casualties mounted at an alarming rate, the need for hospital ships and trained medical personnel increased, and Baker, thanks to his background as a bacteriologist, was reassigned from the battlefields of Ypres to His Majesty's Hospital Ship Oxfordshire, where he served as the ship's bacteriologist until he was recalled to Britain in early December. He subsequently joined the Britannic slightly ahead of her maiden voyage and has remained aboard ever since.