Noemijulia was a cargo ship built in 1895 as Barlby by Sir R Ropner & Sons Ltd, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England, for their own use. She was sold to Greece in 1926 and renamed Noemi. In 1930, she was sold to a British company and renamed Noemijulia. Questions about the manner of her operation were raised in the British Parliament in 1935, and she was attacked by Spanish Nationalist aircraft in 1937 off Cape de Creus. In 1940, she was sold to Panama, followed by a sale to Ireland in 1941 and renaming to Irish Hazel. She was requisitioned in 1943 by the British Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Don, In 1945, she was returned to her previous owners and renamed Irish Hazel. Sold in 1949 and renamed Uman, she served until 1960 when she ran aground and was wrecked. Construction and design Noemijulia, originally named Barlby, was built in 1895 by Ropner & Son Ltd, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham. Barlby was built for R Ropner & Co Ltd, West Hartlepool. Yard number 312, she was launched on 4 October 1895 and completed in November. The United Kingdom Official Number 99728 was allocated. Barlby was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . As built, she was assessed at , . Her DWT was 3,750. The vessel was propelled by a 224 nhp triple expansion steam engine, which had cylinders of , and diameter by stroke. The engine was built by Blair & Co. Ltd. of Stockton on Tees. It drove a screw propeller and could propel the ship at . Service history Early history On 8 October 1924, Barlby departed from Dakar, Senegal for Bordeaux, France. A week after departure, the entire crew of Barlby were struck down by malaria. The British steamship rendezvoused with her at and placed a crew on board in order to return her to Dakar. In 1926, Barlby was sold to D A Mango, Piraeus, Greece and renamed Noemi. The Code Letters JGMC were allocated. In 1930, Noemi was sold to the Noemijulia Steamship Co Ltd, London and renamed Noemijulia. She was operated under the management of W G Walton Ltd, London. Her port of registry was London. She regained her Official Number 99728 and the Code Letters GSJD were allocated. In 1935, management passed to S Catsell Ltd. In July 1935, questions were