Next in line, "Monongahela" ran hard aground under Port Hudson's lower batteries where she remained for nearly half an hour, taking severe punishment. At least eight shots passed entirely through the ship. The bridge was shot from underneath Captain James P. McKinstry, wounding him and killing three others. With "Kineo"'s aid, "Monongahela" was refloated; and she attempted to resume her course upriver. "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.