Not exactly the ship as promised and paid for, it turned out to be a small coal freighter buit in 1899 of no more than 1,700 tons rather than a passenger ship. The port authorities commissioned the ship to carry 55 passengers and not the 700 planned. The local Christian community in Fiume assisted by raising money for the passengers to buy food and supplies and joined a large farewell party for them and the departure was very dignified; people sang Hatikvah. There were dignitaries, simple militia soldiers and port labourers on land to farewell the boat, few without tears in their eyes..

They started in Fiume (Rijeka), then stopped in Susak, Corfu, Milos, Paros, Crete, back to Laurium near Athens, Sunio Island, Naxos before finally disembarking. The trip was tough with a crew of criminals exploiting the passengers for every dollar and possession they had, placing them in sight of Israel and turning the boat back until finally the 8-9 day trip ended more than 1 month later on 21 April 1939 when the passengers were litteraly thrown into the water, most of their luggage stolen from them.

The first group left at 9:30pm in the dark of night, three armed Jewish policemen who had been waiting for four days for their arrival had eventually found them but not until after the passengers had first wandered for four hours through the desert somewhere between Askalon and Gaza. 170 were captured and imprisoned by the British as illegal immigrants and held at Sarafand Military Camp for three weeks.

From reading the diaries of the passengers it appears that despite the chaos and cruelty they had endured in Europe, despite being robbed on the boat of virtually all their material possession, starved and almost losing hope of ever arriving safely, despite all this when they do finally arrive in Israel (Palestine) all this is transcended by a new and overwhelming sense of their freedom and there is finally genuine joy and hope for a new future.