12/06/2026
Thomas OrdeâLees was one of the most complex and most interesting figures of Shackletonâs Endurance expedition. Born in 1877 while his parents were on holiday in Prussia, he had a privileged upbringing. A Royal Marines officer, skilled skier, and early motorâtractor expert, he initially joined the Imperial TransâAntarctic Expedition as the teamâs motor specialist before also taking on the crucial role of storekeeper.
Though often remembered for his eccentricities - such as bringing a bicycle aboard Endurance and riding it across the pack ice - OrdeâLees played a vital part in the partyâs survival. His meticulous management of supplies on Elephant Island helped sustain the stranded men through months of uncertainty, despite his avoidance of helping to row to the island in the first place. He was actually not very popular with Shackleton or the crew - in fact, Frank Hurley wrote to Orde-Lees after the expedition stating that he would have been the first to have been picked to be eaten by the starving men if Shackleton had failed to rescue them. Despite this, he was awarded the silver Polar Medal.
After the expedition, OrdeâLees continued a life of daring adventures. He served in the First World War with the Balloon Service and later the Royal Flying Corps, becoming a pioneer of military parachuting. In one dramatic demonstration, he leapt from Tower Bridge into the Thames to prove the value of parachutes to military leadership. He then went to Japan, where he taught techniques to the Japanese Air Force and married a Japanese woman. However in 1941, when Japan's relations with the West deteriorated, his family was evacuated to New Zealand. From then, he lived in Wellington until his death in 1958, aged 81. He is buried in the servicemen's section of Karori Cemetery, close to fellow ITAE member Harry McNish.
đˇ Thomas Orde-Lees. Taken Frank Hurley, Public domain.
