Alfred von Niezychowski Alfred Graf von Niezychowski ( July 28 , 1888 – June 13 , 1964 ) was a German Count , a Lieutenant Commander of a German commerce raider ship during World War I , an author and lecturer , and a Michigan political candidate for public office . Childhood . Niezychowski was born near Posen , ( Poznań ) , Province of Posen , Germany , the fourth child out of six to Stanisław Nieżychowski ( 1851 - 1897 ) and Lucia ( Łucja ) Taczanowska ( 1862 - 1917 ) . Niezychowski ' s father died when he was nine years old . Two years later , his mother , now 37 - years old , married the 29 - year - old Count Rodryg Dunin , and had four more children . They lived on the Granówko estate , near Poznań . Niezychowski was educated at the German military school at Wahlstadt , Silesia , and at the naval schools at Danzig ( Gdańsk ) and Kiel . His oldest brother Count Josef von Niezychowski initially attained high rank in the German Army , but at the outbreak of World War II changed his allegiance and served as a General in the Polish Army . Career . As an adult , Niezychowski joined the German merchant marine of the Hamburg - American Line , and was an officer on such ships as the Hamburg - American liner and the North German Lloyd liner in 1914 , before being transferred to his most famous assignment , the German passenger liner , where he held the rank of Lieutenant . He was later promoted to Lieutenant Commander in the German naval reserve and became second in command . The ship was one of the fastest in the world , having won the Blue Riband a few years earlier for the fastest - ever Atlantic crossing , in 5 days , 11 hours , and 57 minutes . Germany entered World War I in August 1914 , while the ship was in port in New York , and the " Kronprinz Wilhelm " was ordered into service with the Imperial German Navy as an auxiliary cruiser . She left port and rendezvoused with the to have deck guns installed , and then spent the next 251 days capturing and sinking commercial vessels off the coast of South America , while simultaneously evading capture by the Allies . The ship eventually ran out of supplies , and dozens of the men in her crew had become sick with beri - beri from the restricted diet on the long voyage . Her captain headed for Virginia , and successfully evading the British ships guarding the port , entered safe harbor at Newport News , in 1915 . At the Norfolk Navy Yard , the ship and crew were originally interned as neutrals by the United States , until that country entered the war in 1917 . At that time , Niezychowski and the rest of the crew became American prisoners of war and the ship was officially seized by the US Navy . Renamed the USS " Von Steuben " , she was turned into a troopship . American citizenship . Despite officially being a prisoner of the United States , Niezychowski was evidently quite a popular storyteller among influential Americans , partially because he was the nephew of Baron Ladislaus Hengelmüller von Hengervár , who had been Austro - Hungarian ambassador to the United States for decades , until retiring in 1913 . Niezychowski was known as the " jolly Polish count " and after his release from Fort McPherson , Georgia in August 1919 , he moved to Washington DC , where he was welcomed into diplomatic and society circles . He was also President of the Polish American Navigation Company of New York . In October 1923 , Niezychowski became engaged to Nanine H . Ulman ( 1896 - 1972 ) , a Baltimore socialite and Colonial Dame , daughter of Jacob A . Ulman of Helmore Farms in Green Spring Valley , and great grandniece of President Thomas Jefferson . Niezychowski renounced his European titles , became an American citizen in January 1926 , and married on December 27 , 1927 . Admiral Walter McLean , commander of the Norfolk Navy Yard where his ship had been interned ten years earlier , was his best man . After his wedding , Niezychowski and his wife moved to Detroit , Michigan , where he entered the business world . First he worked as a salesman with a printing and advertising company , and later with the Seldon & Johnson real estate firm . In 1928 , he published a book about the " Kronprinz Wilhelm ' s " 251 - day adventure , and gave lectures on the subject . He was known for signing autographs with green ink , and one of his lecture taglines was that of all of the ships that had been sunk during the ship ' s wartime duty , it had never caused the loss of a single human life . The capturing and sinking had been done in a very civilized , even courteous , manner . Passengers who had been taken aboard from a captured vessel were often given first class accommodations aboard the ex - passenger liner ( members of the crew , received second class cabins ) , until they could be transferred to another ship . In 1932 , while in the investment brokerage business , Niezychowski ran as a Democratic candidate for the Michigan First District . He was a staunch Democrat , and wanted to fight for the immediate repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment , as well as lowering tariff laws to restore foreign trade . However , he lost in the primary election to George G . Sadowski . Niezychowski and Nanine had no biological children , though Niezychowski did become guardian for the children of his half - brother Count Antoni Dunin , after both Antoni and his wife Zofia Werner Dunin ( daughter of Polish vice - Finance Minister Edward Werner ) had been killed in 1939 , during the German offensive in the Invasion of Poland . According to the " Detroit News " , Alfred worked with Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan , to obtain visas so that the orphaned children could enter the United States in the 1940s . They were : In 1964 Niezychowski died in Michigan , and was buried in Mt . Elliott Cemetery in Grosse Pointe .