diff --git a/harbor/logbook_auto.py b/harbor/logbook_auto.py
index a78f807..7fefb45 100644
--- a/harbor/logbook_auto.py
+++ b/harbor/logbook_auto.py
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ def _kind(files):
 def log_commits(project, repo, since, head):
     """One ship's log entry per commit on main after `since` (oldest first); a summary when there are many."""
     raw = _git(repo, "log", "--reverse", "--no-merges", "--format=%H%x1f%cI%x1f%s%x1f%b%x1e", f"{since}..{head}")
-    commits = [c.strip().split("\x1f") for c in raw.split("\x1e") if c.strip()]
+    # str.strip() counts \x1f as whitespace and would eat an empty body's field, so trim newlines only and pad
+    commits = [(c.strip("\r\n").split("\x1f") + [""] * 4)[:4] for c in raw.split("\x1e") if c.strip("\r\n")]
     added = []
     if len(commits) > MAX_ENTRIES:
         subjects = "\n".join(f"- {c[2]} ({c[0][:8]})" for c in commits[-40:])