Jabir bin Abdullah reported,

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent us out under the command of Abu Ubayda to intercept a caravan of Quraysh, and he provided us with a sack of dates as our only provisions, since he could find nothing else for us.ABU Ubayda would give us one date each.I asked, "How did you manage with just one date?"He replied, "We would suck on it the way a child sucks, then drink water after it, and that would suffice us for the day until nightfall. We also used to beat down leaves from the trees with our staffs, moisten them with water, and eat them."He continued, "We traveled along the seashore, and there appeared before us on the shore something resembling a huge sand dune. When we approached it, we found it was a sea creature called the ambergris whale."Abu Ubayda at first said, "It is dead carrion."Then he said, "No, rather we are the envoys of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and in the path of Allah, and you have been driven by necessity, so eat."He said, "We stayed there for a month, and we were three hundred men, until we grew fat. I remember us scooping oil from the socket of its eye with large jars, and cutting from it pieces as big as a bull or the size of a bull. Abu Ubayda took thirteen men from among us and seated them in the socket of its eye. He took one of its ribs and set it upright, then loaded the largest camel we had and passed beneath it. We took provisions of its flesh as cured strips."When we arrived in Medina, we came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and told him about it. He said, "It is sustenance that Allah brought out for you. Do you have any of its meat with you to feed us?"So we sent some of it to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he ate from it.

عن جابر، قال

بعثنا رسول الله ﷺ، وأمر علينا أبا عبيدة، نتلقى عيرا لقريش، وزودنا جرابا من تمر لم يجد لنا غيره، فكان أبو عبيدة يعطينا تمرة تمرة، قال: فقلت: كيف كنتم تصنعون بها، قال: نمصها كما يمص الصبي، ثم نشرب عليها من الماء، فتكفينا يومنا إلى الليل، وكنا نضرب بعصينا الخبط، ثم نبله بالماء، فنأكله، قال: وانطلقنا على ساحل البحر، فرفع لنا على ساحل البحر كهيئة الكثيب الضخم، فأتيناه فإذا هي دابة تدعى العنبر، قال: قال أبو عبيدة: ميتة ثم قال: لا بل نحن رسل رسول الله ﷺ، وفي سبيل الله، وقد اضطررتم فكلوا، قال: فأقمنا عليه شهرا، ونحن ثلاث مائة حتى سمنا، قال: ولقد رأيتنا نغترف من وقب عينه بالقلال الدهن، ونقتطع منه الفدر كالثور أو كقدر الثور، فلقد أخذ منا أبو عبيدة ثلاثة عشر رجلا، فأقعدهم في وقب عينه، وأخذ ضلعا من أضلاعه، فأقامها، ثم رحل أعظم بعير معنا، فمر من تحتها، وتزودنا من لحمه وشائق، فلما قدمنا المدينة أتينا رسول الله ﷺ فذكرنا ذلك له، فقال: هو رزق أخرجه الله لكم، فهل معكم من لحمه شيء فتطعمونا؟ قال: فأرسلنا إلى رسول الله ﷺ منه، فأكله.