"We were nearly by the principal battery," wrote Lieutenant Nathaniel W. Thomas, the executive officer, "when the crank pin of the forward engine was reported heated, and the engine stopped. ..." The ship became unmanageable and drifted downstream, where she anchored out of range of the Confederate guns. Meanwhile, on board "Mississippi", Captain Melancton Smith saw "Richmond" coming downstream but, because of the heavy smoke of the battle, was unable to sight "Monongahela". Thinking that she had steamed ahead to close the gap caused by "Richmond"'s leaving the formation, he ordered his ship "go ahead fast". In attempting to do so, "Mississippi" ran aground and, despite every effort, could not be brought off. After being set afire in four places, she was abandoned. At 3:00 a.m., "Mississippi" was seen in flames floating slowly down river; and, two and one-half hours later, she blew up. Thus ended one of the war's fiercest engagements. Only "Hartford" and "Albatross" had succeeded in running the gauntlet. Commenting on "Albatross"' role, Farragut stated,  "... although it was not in Lieutenant Commander Hart's power to do much, still he did all that was in his power, and whenever he could bring a gun to bear, ahead or astern, on the port side, it was instantly fired." "Albatross"' only casualty in the action was Charles Raick, the captain's steward, who according to the ship's deck log, "... was killed while nobly fighting his gun." But for a Parrott gun which lost a part of its trunnion when struck by a shell, the ship suffered little material damage. After reaching comparative safety beyond the range of Port Hudson's guns, the two Union warships operated in the stretch of the Mississippi between that Southern fortress and Vicksburg until both of these Confederate riverbank strongholds had fallen almost four months later. While plying these waters which bristled with hostile batteries, they denied the Southern armies fighting in the East the steady flow of men, food, horses, and miscellaneous supplies which had supported Confederate troops since the onset of the conflict. In the middle of March, "Albatross" engaged the Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, and suffered one man killed and nine wounded. On 4 May 1863, she attacked the Confederate Fort De Russy and engaged two Confederate steamers moored to the earthworks, CSS "Grand Duke" and "Mary T".