Final answer:
The colonists were forced to eat vermin, leather items, edible weeds, and roots, and in extreme cases, resort to cannibalism to survive when their food supplies depleted.
Step-by-step explanation:
When the colonists ran out of provisions, they faced a dire situation. In their desperation, they initially ate vermin such as cats, dogs, rats, and mice. As conditions worsened, these settlers consumed leather items like belts and shoes and even went as far as boiling and eating neck ruffs for their starch content. The most extreme cases involved graves being desecrated, with colonists consuming the dead, and an incident of cannibalism where Henry Collins killed and ate his wife. The severe famine led some colonists to search the woods for edible weeds and roots, though encounters with the local fauna added to their peril.