It's not the actions of Anderson which are in question. The fact is that when Anderson moved, Lincoln was furious. He had orders to hold both forts, dammit. As the official sacrificial lamb his chances for survival had improved beyond what was tolerable with the abandonment of Moultrie.
As the quote says, the ships off the bar "awaited the result of the bombardment".
What else were they to do? Run cover with the Powhatan and use the landing craft to aid Sumter? Oh yeah, where were the Powhatan and the landing craft? Who diverted them? By who's direct orders was the fleet crippled such that all they could do was sit off the bar and watch?
You apparently miss the point, and the ships that we're talking about. It's the merchant ships that had arrived at Charleston during that night which were lying off the bar "awaiting the results of the bombardment," including the Nashville, the ship that had been challenged by the Harriet Lane earlier. Pea would have you believe that these ships sitting outside the bar while the harbor is under bombardment is evidence of the Union blockade, and not the simple result of civilian ship captains not wanting to sail into a firestorm.
Lincoln wasn't president. Why would he be furious and what evidence do you have that he was?
He had orders to hold both forts, dammit. As the official sacrificial lamb his chances for survival had improved beyond what was tolerable with the abandonment of Moultrie.
Orders from whom?