Jabir bin Abdullah reported,

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent us out, placing Abu Ubayda in command, to intercept a caravan belonging to Quraysh. He provided us with a sack of dates as our only provision, having nothing else to give us. Abu Ubayda used to hand out the dates to us one by one.I asked, "What did you do with a single 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 entire day until night. We also used to beat down leaves from 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 creature called the ambergris whale."Abu Ubayda first said, "It is dead carrion."Then he said, "No, rather we are envoys of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, traveling in the path of Allah, and you have been driven by necessity, so eat."He said, "We stayed there for a month, 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 the size of a bull, or as large as a bull. Abu Ubayda took thirteen men from among us and seated them inside the socket of its eye. He took one of its ribs and stood it upright, then he saddled the largest camel we had, and it passed beneath the rib. We took strips of its meat as provisions for our journey."When we arrived in Madinah, we came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and mentioned this to him.He said, "That was sustenance which Allah brought forth for you. Do you have any of its meat with you so you may feed us some?"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، ونقطع 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.