in the summer of 1919 the ship left the canary islands after earlier calling at several ports in spain, loaded with cargo and 1,142 passengers, mostly immigrants to cuba, and 88 crew members. although most of the passengers were booked for havana, 749 left the ship when it called at santiago de cuba on september 5. the 1919 florida keys hurricane hit havana on september 8, before "valbanera" reached the port. while the storm was raging an unidentified ship was seen off the harbor entrance signalling for a pilot, but the harbor was closed and the ship was notified it could not enter. the ship acknowledged and signalled it would move away from shore to ride out the storm.