As at New Orleans, the preparations were left very much to the commanders of ships. A general order directed spare spars and boats to be landed, the machinery protected, and splinter-nettings placed. As the fleet was to pass between the eastern buoy and the beach, or two hundred yards from Morgan, little was feared from Gaines, which would be over two miles away; the preparations[28] were therefore made mainly on the starboard side, and port guns were shifted over till all the ports were full. The boats were lowered and towed on the port side. The admiral himself and the captain of the Brooklyn preferred to go in with their topsail yards across; but the Richmond and Lackawanna sent down their topmasts, and the other vessels seem to have done the same. [Illustration: BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY.] In the order of battle the wooden ships, as at Port Hudson, were to be lashed in couples, the lighter vessels on the off hand; the four monitors in a column inshore and abreast of the leading ships, the Tecumseh, which led, slightly in advance of the van of the other column. The admiral had intended to lead the latter himself in the Hartford, but the representations of many officers led him to yield his own judgment so far as to let the Brooklyn, whose captain earnestly wished it, go ahead of him. The order of attack, as it stood at last, was as follows: MONITORS--STARBOARD COLUMN. Tecumseh 1,034 tons, 2[29] guns, Commander T.A.M. Craven. Manhattan 1,034 tons, 2 guns, Commander J.W.A. Nicholson. Winnebago 970 tons, 4 guns, Commander Thomas H. Stevens. Chickasaw 970 tons, 4 guns, Lieut.-Com'r George H. Perkins. WOODEN SHIPS--PORT COLUMN. {Brooklyn 2,070 tons, 24 guns, Captain James Alden. {Octorara 829 tons, 6 guns, Lieut.-Com'r Chas. H. Greene. {Hartford 1,900 tons, 21 guns, {Rear-Admiral David G. Farragut, { {Captain Percival Drayton. {Metacomet 974 tons, 6 guns, Lieut.-Com'r Jas. B. Jouett. {Richmond 1,929 tons, 20 guns, Captain Thornton A. Jenkins. {Port Royal 805 tons, 6 guns, Lieut.-Com'r Bancroft Gherardi. {Lackawanna 1,533 tons, 8 guns, Captain John B. Marchand. {Seminole 801 tons, 8 guns, Commander Edward Donaldson. {Monongahela 1,378 tons, 8 guns, Commander James H. Strong. {Kennebec 507 tons, 5 guns, Lieut.-Com'r Wm. P. McCann. {Ossipee 1,240 tons, 11 guns, Commander William B. Le Roy. {Itasca 507 tons, 5 guns, Lieut.-Com'r George Brown. {Oneida 1,032 tons, 9 guns, Commander J.R.M. Mullany. {Galena 738 tons, 10 guns, Lieut.-Com'r Clark H. Wells. The Octorara, Metacomet, and Port Royal were side-wheel double-enders; the others were screw ships. All had been built for the naval service.