[5] In the early 1930s the future jazz pianist and composer Charles Segal and future actor Laurence Harvey were passengers on Adolph Woermann from Hamburg to Cape Town when their mothers, who were half-sisters, emigrated taking their children from Lithuania to South Africa.

[citation needed] At the outbreak of World War II Adolph Woermann was at Lobito in Portuguese Angola on a homeward voyage.

The UK refrigerated cargo liner Waimarama traced Adolph Woermann and alerted the Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Neptune.

When Neptune approached on 22 November, Adolph Woermann's Master, Otto Burfeind, evacuated his ship and scuttled her according to standing orders.

In 1940 most of the internees from Seaton, including Captain Burfeind and his crew, were put aboard Arandora Star to be transferred to Canada.