Members of a 2004 expedition trecking in Antartica
© AFP/File Pascal Tournaire

LONDON (AFP) - Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition of 1908-1909, the first of his ill-fated attempts to reach the South Pole, got further south than anyone had ever been before: 97 miles (156 kilometres) from the pole.

Norway's Roald Amundsen eventually reached the Pole three years later, but 100 years on six descendants of Anglo-Irish Shackleton and his crews are searching for one more person to join their party to try again.

"Above all else we want a candidate with a relentless passion to succeed whatever the adversity," said Henry Worsley, 47, who is leading the Shackleton Centenary Expedition.

"The type of person we will be looking for is someone whose cup is always half-full, never half-empty -- someone who can laugh at themselves, a strong team player who sees this as a lifetime opportunity and can tell a good joke to keep others' spirits up."

The army lieutenant colonel is a descendant of Frank Worsley, Shackleton's skipper on the Endurance, the ship used in a following Polar expedition in 1914.

Three explorers will set off in October on the same 900-mile (1,450-kilometre), 80-day route chosen for the Nimrod Expedition.

They will meet the other four 97 miles from the pole, where their predecessors were forced to turn back on January 9, 1909 in the face of icy blizzards and dwindling rations.

The final expedition member will join the second leg and will be chosen through a tough selection process in Wales and road-tested with a crossing of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic.

Rather than the ponies and dogs of Shackleton's era, the crew will have modern equipment and navigational aids and fly out from the South Pole, first reached by Norwegian explorer Amundsen on December 14, 1911.

The centenary expedition is to raise funds for the Shackleton Foundation, the mission of which is "to support individuals of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds who exemplify the spirit of Sir Ernest Shackleton: inspirational leaders wishing to 'make a difference', in particular to the less advantaged."

©AFP