Why do the passengers on the Kerberos jump ship in 1899?

The mystery-horror series 1899 is streaming on Netflix. Most people have already started their binge sessions and have questions. One of the questions we see many people asking concerns the passengers aboard the Kerberos jumping ship. Why do the passengers begin jumping from the ship? We answered this burning question below!

1899 follows a migrant steamship of European immigrants traveling from the old continent (Europe) to the new continent (America). However, their trip suddenly takes a turn for the worse when they discover another steamship that’s been missing for months. The passengers are then caught in a mysterious riddle that they can’t seem to figure out or escape from.

Spoilers from 1899 ahead!

It all happens in episode 5. After Maura (Emily Beecham) gets the boy out of the cabinet, the boy (Fflyn Edwards) takes her back to her room to show her the shaft under a bed. Meanwhile, Eyk and several other passengers become alarmed by a siren going off on the ship. After a while, the siren goes off, and a ticking sound starts. Once again, everyone’s confused by the sound and can’t figure out where it’s coming from. But after the ticking sound goes on for a couple of seconds, passengers start to go into a trance-like state that seemingly can’t be broken.

They all head to the main deck and jump off the ship into the deep ocean. Some of the characters to jump ship are Yuk Je, Krester, Landon, and Eugen. Eventually, the ticking noise stops after Daniel powers down the steam pressure machine. However, most passengers had already jumped ship. The only remaining people on board the Kerberos are Virginia, Eyk, Maura, Jérôme, Ángel, Ramiro, Franz, Iben, Tove, Clémence, Anker, Lucien, and the first mate.

Why do the passengers on the Kerberos jump ship in 1899?

First of all, the Kerberos and the passengers on the ship are all involved in a simulation that Maura and her husband Daniel created to buy them more time with their dying son Elliot. So, none of what actually happens on the Kerberos is real. When the passengers jump ship, they don’t really die. It’s a part of Maura and Daniel’s constructed simulation that’s been done dozens of times.

The Prometheus was a previous simulation. The passengers on the Kerberos are the same passengers that were on the Prometheus. That’s why Maura and Eyk’s names were in the Prometheus logbook. Each simulation runs for eight days before resetting. So, once the Prometheus simulation was done, the passengers started a new loop on the Kerberos. That’s why in episode 6, we see Eyk in a shipyard with tons of ships. Those ships were used in previous simulations.

To sum it up, none of the passengers that jumped off the Kerberos actually died. The passengers jumped off the Kerberos because it’s a part of a simulation that Maura and Daniel created. The simulation runs for a certain length of time before restarting. After the simulation finishes, all of the passengers who jumped from the Kerberos would reappear in a new simulation on another ship.

1899 is available to stream on Netflix.