June 11th. Commenced with pleasant weather, wind from the S. W.; at three thirty A. NI., a squall of wind came up, we having only one anchor down, the starboard one, thought proper to let the good old ship ride the gale out with two, so let go the port anchor; we had no sooner let it go, than we had to heave it up again, as the blow, or tornado, it seemed, coming on, was all over with. Mortar boats engaged bombarding Port Hudson batteries. Squally and rainy weather; at six P. M. raining very hard—clearing off between seven and eight o’clock—accompanied by fresh breezes from S. S. E. Firing at Port Hudson continued the whole of these twenty-four hours.
