Born in 1865 in the province of Schleswig Holstein, he came to the country in 1883, working for some years in Rosario as an employee of the Central Argentine Railway. In 1886, he decided to go to Mexico, but the plague of cholera which broke out in Buenos Aires, prevented him from carrying out his purpose. Unable to go out of the country, and longing, on the other hand, to travel, and to apply his activities to some purpose worthy of his determination and his energies, he shipped with three companions in the old "Villarino", which was to sail about that time for Rio Gallegos.

He reached his destination in 1887, and at once framed a plan to make an expedition to the Andes, for which purpose he bought there the necessary horses for attempting the adventure.

In the Lake Zone, he met and made friends with Captain Castillo who had been sent by the Argentine Government to explore those unknown regions. Mr. Hamann's strength of purpose harmonised admirably with the bold spirit of the. captain mentioned, and in the close intimacy of camping out they formed a project to go down the river Gallegos to its mouth, if possible. To this effect, they built a canoe with the trunks of trees in the Indian fashion, and embarked in it in company with a labourer, while the rest of the members of the expedition followed the boat overland. After countless vicissitudes, they arrived somewhere in the neighbourhood of Giier Aike, that is to say, a few miles from the river's discharge into the sea, thus carrying out fully the itinerary traced.

In 1890, Mr. Hamann crossed to Sandy Point, where he set up a sawmill, and in 1907, having resolved to devote himself to country pursuits, he stocked the lands which form his estancia "Laguna del Oro" to which this deserving settler devotes, at the present time, all of his activities.