The liner reached Havana on May 27 1939. Early in the morning Customs and quarantine officials came aboard and the process of issuing a landing permit for each passenger began. It had already proceeded some way when the blow fell - a telegraphed message from the Cuban President ordering that no one should be allowed to land.

For six days, during which the ship remained in full view of the Cuban capital, urgent efforts were made to obtain a reversal of this decision.

During the days in the harbour relatives of many of the refugees came as near to the ship as possible in boats. Eventually, despite the efforts of Cuban and American friends and of the ship's captain, the liner had to leave. She cruised slowly back on her course as appeals for help were sent to the world's capitals.

Initially, hopes concentrated on the United States and the St. Louis sailed along the Florida  coastline shadowed by an American coastguard to ensure that no-one tried to swim ashore.

On board the liner, as the prospect of a return to Germany became more and more likely, despair seized many of the refugees, some of whom had been released from concentration camps and had undertaken never to set foot in the Reich again.