POLAR explorer Tim Jarvis is looking for crew to join him on an expedition to retrace Sir Ernest Shackleton’s epic 1916 voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia.

Jarvis, who reckons the trip will be the most difficult in his polar exploration career, is looking for 10 “hardy souls” to join him.

Successful applicants to the expedition will have to fork out £20000 (R260000) for the privilege of joining   the 56-day adventure, some of it in an tiny boat across a treacherous and freezing ocean.

 After losing his ship the Endurance in pack ice, Shackleton and his men trekked over the ice — dragging the ship’s lifeboats with them — until the ice opened up, after which they set sail for Elephant Island where they set up a winter camp. Leaving most of the party there, Shackleton and four men then set sail in the James Caird, the most seaworthy of the three boats, in a desperate gamble to find help at the whaling station on South Georgia. Seventeen days later, having survived vicious weather, they made landfall on South Georgia — on the wrong side of the island, forcing the Shackleton and two men to make their way over the high, steep mountains to safety.

The expedition will sail in the Alexandra Shackleton, an exact replica of the James Caird. On reaching South Georgia, Jarvis and two of his crew will cross the island’s  mountainous interior to the old  whaling station at Stromness. 

The expedition’s sailing  ship, TS Pelican — similar to Shackleton’s Endurance — departs  Punta Arenas in Chile in January. For more information see www.shackletonepic.com.