New Year's

The New Year's voyage is the Antarctic cruise associated with Bernadette Fox's disappearance, a journey whose surviving record combines the measured routine of a passenger log with the uncertainty of later testimony. On New Year's Day, the log records a passenger disembarking at Devil Island and returning to the ship; afterward, a conversation among Antarctic guides identifies Bernadette as the woman who reportedly jumped from the vessel, while making clear that what happened has not been established.

New Year's Day in the Passenger Log

At 10:10 on January 1, a passenger disembarked at Devil Island; the log records her reembarking at 16:31. That night, at 23:30, a passenger signed for two Pink Penguin drinks at the Shackleton Lounge, and the dinner record notes a bottle of Cabernet. The entries supply times, places, and transactions rather than a named passenger, so they do not independently establish Bernadette's movements or state of mind. Their precision nevertheless gives the voyage a documentary rhythm: a landing and return, then a record of drinks and dinner, on the day later associated with her disappearance.

The Later Account of a Jump

When Bee Branch asks the naturalist Frog whether he was on the New Year's trip, she begins to identify Bernadette. Frog responds by calling her the woman who killed herself. Bee rejects that description, and another naturalist, Charlie, says that nobody knows what happened. Frog then points to Eduardo as someone who was present when the woman jumped; Eduardo, in turn, says the matter is still under investigation. The exchange therefore introduces a reported jump without confirming either that Bernadette died or what became of her. Frog's certainty, Charlie's caution, Bee's correction, and Eduardo's reference to an investigation leave the central event contested.

Record, Rumor, and Uncertainty

The voyage is reconstructed through two different kinds of evidence: an impersonal log that fixes a passenger's itinerary and purchases, and a later conversation in which guides relay what they believe or have heard. The log gives the New Year's Day landing a firm chronology but does not name the passenger; the conversation names Bernadette but cannot settle the account of her disappearance. Together they frame the cruise not as a fully witnessed event but as a gap between what can be recorded and what remains unknown. The claim that a woman jumped from the ship circulates among people connected to the voyage, while the investigation and the conflicting responses prevent that claim from becoming a definitive explanation.