Catsell's management. On 19 September 1939 she delivered 1,130 Jewish refugees from Europe into Haifa, Mandatory Palestine, one of many ships delivering Jews into Palestine in defiance of the 1939 White Paper. The ship was boarded and the immigrants detained by the Palestine Police Force under threat of deportation. After one month in detention, the refugees were released. Noemijulia was a member of Convoy HG 32, which departed from Gibraltar on 31 May 1940 and arrived at Liverpool, Lancashire on 10 June. She was bound for Sharpness, Gloucestershire. On 17 June 1941, Noemijulia was sold to Irish Shipping Ltd, Dublin, Ireland for £67,500 and renamed Irish Hazel. She was originally being offered for sale as scrap, with the Hammond Lane Foundry, Dublin as prospective buyers. She was described as "fit for nothing but the scrap yard", and needed extensive repairs. Seventy percent of the ship was condemned. This included all decks. On 29 October 1941, the subject of the purchase of Irish Hazel was raised in the Dáil Éireann by James Hickey, who asked specific questions as to the purchase cost, state and operational costs of the ship. In reply, Minister for Supplies Seán Lemass stated that he would not answer specific questions such as those posed, but that the purchase price of the ship took into account her condition and the cost of the necessary repairs. Due to a lack of steel in Dublin, and the MoWTs refusal to release the steel to a Dublin shipyard, it was decided to send Irish Hazel to the United Kingdom for the repairs to be carried out. She departed from Dublin on 13 January 1942 for the yard of C H Bailey, Newport, Monmouthshire. Bailey's were to repair her on an "as and when" basis. The ship was almost completely rebuilt, with of new steel needed. Irish Hazel was requisitioned by the MoWT on 17 November 1943 whilst under repair at Newport, Monmouthshire and renamed Empire Don. The requisitioning was partly offset by the granting of a warrant that allowed Irish Shipping Ltd to operate the Italian steamer Caterina Gerolimich. She had been trapped in Dublin port since the outbreak of the war. She was purchased by Irish Shipping Ltd. following the Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces and renamed . She sailed under the Irish flag on 26 October 1943. The Empire Don's port of registry was London and the