They had been on the water for a while, they had started running out of food. "...but famine is the most pitiful, the worst end that a man can come to. Will you fight it?" Par. 865, pg. 789
Odysseus told them not to eat the cattle. While he was asleep, they ate the cattle..."The cattle here are not for our provision, or we pay dearly for it." Par. 840, pg. 788.
Just like Odysseus said, they would be punished. There was a storm. "Zeus let fly a bolt against the ship, a direct hit, so that she bucked, in reeking fumes of sulfur." Par. 945, pg. 793