One of Odysseus’s ships survives the Laestrygonian attack. The giant Laestrygonians destroy the other eleven ships while the fleets are gathered inside their harbor.
Odysseus’s own ship survives because he keeps it outside the harbor and moors it to a rock. The other captains bring their vessels into the sheltered inlet, where the steep surroundings leave them vulnerable. The Laestrygonians then hurl enormous stones and attack the trapped crews.
This disaster reduces Odysseus’s expedition from a fleet of twelve ships to a single vessel. The surviving ship carries Odysseus and his remaining companions onward to Aeaea, the island of Circe. The episode is distinct from the later encounter with Scylla, who takes six men from the ship rather than destroying the entire vessel.