Jones decided he and his becalmed force had only one option: they must turn and fight. Summoning the commanders of the five gunboats, he laid out the plan. They would form a line across the mile-wide strip of shallow water where they were becalmed, anchoring the boats at the stern. The tide retreating from Lake Borgne would keep their bows—and thus their cannons—pointing at the oncoming British. His intent, Jones explained, was to put them “in the most advantageous position, to give the enemy as warm a reception as possible.”9
