RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Message in a bottle: the discovery of a young medical officer’s map from the 1917 Battle of Hill 70 JF Canadian Journal of Surgery JO CAN J SURG FD Canadian Medical Association SP 302 OP 304 DO 10.1503/cjs.012318 VO 61 IS 5 A1 Michael Kryshtalskyj A1 Jonathan Vance A1 Chryssa McAlister YR 2018 UL http://canjsurg.ca/content/61/5/302.abstract AB We report the serendipitous discovery of a map drawn by an army surgeon during the First World War. The map, entitled “Loos 36° NW3,’” was drawn by 24-year-old Captain Alexander Edward MacDonald in fall 1917 and was found in his old surgery textbook. MacDonald’s map depicts the positions of Canadian frontlines and medical units after the Battle of Hill 70. During the battle, Dr. MacDonald tended to the wounded in an aid post that he constructed in a ruined coal mine near the Front. MacDonald would go on to serve with distinction in the Battle of Passchendaele and Canada’s Hundred Days, and he received the Military Cross for gallantry. He maintained a passionate interest in cartography throughout his life and eventually became an authority among map collectors. Artifacts such as MacDonald’s map remind us of the realities of war and the sacrifices of our surgeon predecessors.