Josef Hammar (born November 15, 1868, in Helsingborgdied August 4, 1927, in Bouzaréa) was a Swedish military surgeon and adventurer. Hammar was a renowned doctor who saw active service in the second Boer War and the siege of Ladysmith. He also served as a military attaché in the Russo-Japanese War and the siege of Port Arthur. Biography Early life Josef Hammar was son of August Hammar, a vicar in Nosaby, Sweden, and his wife Elin Jakobina Juliana Ask. After his matriculation in Helsingborg May 31, 1886,. he joined the university in Lund. On September 14, 1888, he took a Medico-Philosophical degree and in 1889 he registered at the Karolinska Institute to study medicine. Four years later on February 15, 1893, he achieved his Candidate of Medicine. He continued his studies and practice and between March and May, 1894 he attended courses in Berlin and Dresden and visited Karlsbad. On June 21, 1895, he is returned to Lund as an assistant at the obstetrical clinic where he practised until April, 1896. In the summer of 1896, he became a medical field scholar of the 2nd degree and served with The Royal South Skånska Infantry Regiment. The year after, he practiced at The Skånska Cavalry Regiment, followed by The Royal Lifeguards Hussars and The Royal Vedes Artillery Regiment. On September 15, 1898, he took his degree as Licentiate of Medical Science in Lund, becoming a certified doctor. His first job was as a temporary district doctor in Hammenshög district. In search of Salomon August Andrée After having spent a month in the northern part of Sweden as a temporary doctor at the state rail-road between Boden and Morjärv in the spring of 1899 Hammar joined A. G. Nathorst's expedition towards Greenland as the expeditions doctor. Nathorst had performed a similar expedition the year before and considered that to be his last expedition, but heeding the call "Proposal for an expedition to eastern Greenland in search of Andrée and his companions" he decided to make a second expedition. Two years earlier Salomon August Andrée had staged an air balloon expedition to the North Pole. Hammar had, together with a friend, applied to join the Andrée expedition but was not accepted. The expedition sailed with the ship Antarctic from Stockholm at 10 am on May 20, 1899. Travelling around Sweden's southern end and out on the North Sea. On June 22 they reach Jan