Everyone knows about Christopher Columbus and his 1492 voyage to the Caribbean, but few know how his creative, out-of-the-box thinking saved him from starvation a decade later.

In June 1503, Christopher Columbus was at the tail end of his fourth voyage to the New World, desperately trying to get his crew back to Spain. As Laurence Bergreen explains in his book ‘Columbus: The Four Voyages’, his two ships were battered from months of exploring, infested with shipworms, and on the verge of sinking, forcing Columbus to seek refuge in Jamaica. He sent his ships ashore, and converted them into makeshift cabins on the beach.

Unable to build a new ship or repair the old ships, Columbus was exposed, starving, exhausted, and suffering from chronic arthritis. Not to mention being stranded on a foreign island without any hope of rescue.

There was only one ship Columbus and his men could call on to get them back to Spain, but it was 124 miles away on the island of Hispaniola (present day Haiti), where another Spanish voyager was stationed.

With no other options, Columbus asked some of his crew to paddle the open-ocean suicide mission in a couple of canoes to ask for a rescue boat that could save Columbus.

As Laurence Bergreen writes: “The men in the canoes commenced paddling for five days and four nights. They were rowing for their lives, and those of the men they left behind with Columbus. For the last two days of this marathon, with their stores of food and drink exhausted, the men aboard the canoes neither ate or drank.”

Once the rescue crew left, Columbus and his remaining crew had to fend for themselves. With Columbus crippled by arthritis, group morale quickly deteriorated, and 50 crew members rebelled, frustrated with their prospects of survival in Jamaica.

This left Columbus with only 20 loyal men, most of whom were sick or in poor condition.

The local Indians were happy to trade with them for food, but as the months went on, they slowed their trading with Columbus, putting his crew at risk of starvation. Suspicion was raised that the Indians were slowly starving the Spanish until they were too weak to defend themselves.

But even with this suspicion, what could Columbus and his men do?

Sending off a group of men to attack the Indians in the jungle would make Columbus, who could barely stand up due to arthritis, exposed to an ambush attack on the beach. And if Columbus died, so would all hope of a return to Spain. The Indians also had the advantages of good health and a large population.

For Columbus and his men, there were no good options. They were on the verge of starvation without any hope of returning to Spain.

With all rational options exhausted, Columbus searched for a miracle in the navigational charts and books he brought with him on his voyage.

A 1474 copy of “Ephemerides Astronomicae” contained lists of astronomical tables that predicted all sorts of celestial phenomena. When Columbus found a table predicting lunar eclipses between 1474 and 1540, he noticed one was supposed to occur on February 29, 1504. With this estimate and some courage, Columbus hatched a plan.

On the night of the predicted eclipse, he gathered the Indians for a meal on the beach. During dinner he told them God was angry at them for not trading more food with his men.

The Indians burst out in laughter, and in response, Columbus said that God would send them a clear message about the punishment they would receive for their actions.

That night, the lunar eclipse turned the moon a deep red, sending the Indians into a frenzy. They rushed out of the jungle, gave all their food and supplies to Columbus, and begged Columbus to ask God for forgiveness.

Columbus, seeking to capitalize on the moment, told the Indians he needed to return to his cabin to have a word with God, where he calculated the time left in the eclipse with his hourglass.

As the eclipse neared completion, Columbus emerged. He told the Indians that he had spoken with God and assured him that the Indians would treat the Spanish well by bringing them all the food and provisions they needed in the future.

The Indians happily upheld their duties, and Columbus secured a food supply that lasted him and his men through the summer when the rescue crew returned with a suitable ship.

Thanks to an information edge and some creative thinking, Columbus fought off a nearly certain death and successfully returned to Spain as he completed his fourth and final New World voyage.