During Ferdinand Magellan's voyage around the world, his desperate crew survived by eating leather, rats, and sawdust when food ran out.

The 1519–1522 expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the globe, though it exacted a tremendous human toll. Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition's chronicler, documented that crossing the Pacific Ocean took three months and twenty days. During this ordeal, the crew endured severe scurvy and starvation as their biscuit supply deteriorated into dust infested with worms.Pigafetta recorded that sailors were forced to eat ox hides that had been used to cover the mainyard and protect the rigging from chafing. Exposure to sun and rain had hardened these hides considerably. To make them edible, the sailors soaked the leather in seawater for several days before roasting it over embers. Though this provided minimal nutrition, it helped keep the men alive during the grueling voyage.Rats became a prized commodity aboard the ships, often sold among the crew for half a ducat each. The absence of fresh fruit and vegetables caused severe vitamin C deficiency, causing sailors' gums to swell so dramatically that many could not eat. By the time the fleet reached the Mariana Islands on March 6, 1521, nearly 30 men had died from disease and malnutrition.Modern historians rely on Pigafetta's detailed journals as the primary source for these accounts of extreme hardship. The expedition began with five ships and approximately 270 men, but only one ship, the Victoria, and 18 original crew members completed the full circumnavigation and returned to Spain. This survival story stands as one of the most harrowing examples of maritime endurance in history.