The _Hartford_, meeting the swift eddy at the bend, where the current describes nearly a right angle, narrowly escaped being driven ashore. The _Richmond_, following, was disabled by a shot through her engine-room when abreast of the upper battery at the turn. The _Monongahela's_ consort, the _Kineo_, lost the use of her rudder, and the _Monongahela_ herself ran aground on the spit; presently the _Kineo_, drifting clear, also grounded, but was soon afloat again, and, with her assistance, the _Monongahela_ too swung free, after nearly a half hour of imminent peril. Then the _Kineo_, cast loose by her consort, drifted helplessly down the stream, while the _Monongahela_ passed up until a heated bearing brought her engines to a stop and she too drifted with the current.
Last of the fleet, the _Mississippi_, unseen in the smoke, and therefore safe enough from the Confederate guns, yet equally unable to see either friend, foe, or landmark, was carried by the current hard on the spit; then, after a half hour of ineffectual exertion, lying alone and helpless under the concentrated aim of the Confederate batteries, she was abandoned and set on fire by her captain. About three in the morning, becoming lighter, as the fire did its work, she floated free and drifted down the stream one mass of flames, in plain view, not merely of the fleet, but also of the army, condemned to stand to arms in sight and sound of the distant battle and now to look on idly as, with a mighty flash and roar, the _Mississippi_ cast to the heavens her blazing timbers, amid a myriad of bursting shells, in one mountain of flame: then black silence.
Thus, when at last the gray of the morning came, the _Hartford_ and _Albatross_ rode in safety above Port Hudson, while the _Richmond, Monongahela, Genesee_, and _Kineo_, all battered and more or less injured, lay at anchor once more near Prophet Island, and the _Mississippi_ had perished in a blaze of glory.
Narrowly escaping the total failure of his plans and the destruction of his fleet, Farragut had so far succeeded in his objects that henceforth the Confederates practically lost the control of the Mississippi above Port Hudson, as well as the use of the Red River as their base of supplies. Save in skiff-loads, beef, corn, and salt could no longer be safely carried across the Mississippi, and the high road from Galveston and Matamoras was closed against the valuable and sorely needed cargoes brought from Europe by the blockade runners.