The men hope to reach their target on 17 January

Simon Daglish, 40, Ed Farquhar, 39, James Daly, 41, and Roger Weatherby, 43, will pull a heavy wooden sledge across the original route.

They will be equipped with reindeer-skin sleeping bags and eat biscuits made to a 1912 recipe.

Guide Geoff Somers, 54, from Keswick, Cumbria, vowed to return safely.

Captain Scott's doomed mission started in 1910, but after a series of setbacks, arrived at the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to realise Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them by a month.

On the return journey Captain Scott and his four colleagues perished.

The 2005 team will not be using modern waterproof tents, thermal clothing, or energy-rich meals.

But they will take some modern equipment such as GPS satellite navigation.

Scott's team all perished on their expedition

Mr Daglish said: "We are going to the same place and using the same equipment as Scott did.

"We will be navigating using a theodolite and the biscuit-makers Huntley Palmer have made us 30,000 biscuits from the same recipe as those made for Scott.

"We have made some changes where it would be have been foolish not to. We will have GPS as a back-up, because Scott's men were naval men and had more experience, and the goggles they used caused snow blindness, so we are using modern lenses but in the same leather frames."

The men, who are raising money for baby charity Tommy's, Racing Welfare and the Winnicott Foundation, which cares for premature babies, are starting 170 miles from the South Pole and hope to reach their target on 17 January.