A TEAM of adventurers including a Hampshire sailor are aiming to become the first to recreate Ernest Shackleton’s famous voyage across Antarctica will start their challenge on Sunday.

Lymington sailor Nick Bubb will skipper the crew of six as they set sail in the 22ft lifeboat Alexandra Shackleton, a replica of Shackleton’s boat the James Caird, from Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to South Georgia 800 miles away.

The team have been carrying out trials on land and sea on nearby King George Island in preparation for their adventure, expected to take around three weeks.

Shackleton had been aiming to cross Antarctica from west to east during his 1914-1916 expedition but got stranded when his yacht became trapped in pack ice.

He and a small crew then sailed to South Georgia in the James Caird lifeboat before trekking to a whaling station to raise the alarm.