Learn more about the Antarctic adventure.




Personal Tale of Historic Expedition
A Firsthand Account of a Young Sailor’s Expedition

Lakeland, FL  – Space system engineer and author Edward W. Koenig provides a unique perspective to a scientific expedition. In his hand written journal he describes life aboard an icebreaker as it completes a four month expedition to the shores of the Antarctic in 1947. Sixty years later he uses this journal and his photos to publish a very readable account, backed up by the official Navy report of Operation Windmill.. The book is a fascinating read taking readers on an adventure that will excite and educate everyone from former naval explorers to armchair travelers. Its narrative begins with an unpleasant start over rough seas and travel to the South Pacific island of American Samoa. Upon crossing the equator, the description of the Pollywog to Shellback initiation is one of the best yet, as stated by the librarian at the Navy Library.

The book highlights the ship's braving heavy seas, thick ice, and icebergs, and the gathering of valuable geological, biological, photographic, and other data. More than 20 planned stops were made along the Antarctic coastline, including Little America, Byrd's East Base and McMurdo Sound which now serves as the center of American activity on Antarctica. A near catastrophic helicopter mission, meeting a Japanese whaling fleet and rescuing an expedition locked in the ice are in The Antarctic Journal of a Sailor on Operation Windmill, the first expedition opening the Antarctic following World War II.

The Antarctic Journal of a Sailor on Operation Windmill is available online for purchase at www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.flipkart.com, and http://www.authorhouse.com/.
If you contact me at ekrm2555@live.com and buy my book at a discount price of $15, I will write a dedication for you and sign the book, then send it to you at no shipping cost.

About the Author
Author Edward W. Koenig’s life before and after the Navy experience is as interesting as his book itself. He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1928, with the depression weighing heavily on all families. Born in the midst of the Great Depression, the author and his family moved to Erie after a devastating flood in 1936. He joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from high school and was sent to Great Lakes Naval Training Center boot camp and primary electronics after passing the test for electronics school. Mr. Koenig spent two years in the Navy before leaving to pursue higher education at Purdue University in Indiana. He graduated with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering. He moved to Fort Wayne, IN with his wife to work at Capehart-Farnsworth Corp. with Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of television, retiring as System Engineer for the development of Weather Satellite instruments..

Penguin Press
(These are copies of the pages I kept with my journal.  They were distributed around the ship at various times.  We got our home news and sports from here, since the only communication to the States was by fax)

November20, 1947





































December 21, 1947




January 2, 1948



JANUARY 4, 1948





January 6, 1948






January12, 1948




January 13, 1948





January 18, 1948



January 27, 1948





January 28, 1948










March 4, 1948







































We hope you enjoyed reading the Penguin Press