 Initially the Danzig sailors, facing the incoming Teutonic flotilla alone, had only ten "szniks" (light sail boats common in the Baltic in the 15th century) which were staffed with five hundred men armed with crossbows and arquebuses.To delay the enemy, they sank a galley at a narrow part of the Vistula, which blocked the entrance from the lagoon to the river.Coming upon the obstacle, von Erlichshausen stalled long enough for the Elbing ships to join up with those of Danzig.