Casualties in any decisive modern naval engagement are frequently very one-sided, one fleet suffering enormous losses whilst the other escapes with comparative immunity. This battle proved no exception to this rule. In the British squadron, the Invincible and Cornwall had no casualties, though they both had a big share of hits. The Carnarvon and Bristol were untouched. The Inflexible had 1 man killed and 3 slightly wounded. The Glasgow had 1 man killed and 4 wounded through a single unlucky shot. The heaviest casualties occurred in the Kent, who had 5 men killed and 11 wounded, 3 of whom subsequently succumbed to their wounds; most of these were caused by the bursting of one shell. She was hit thirty-seven times, and went in to a much closer range than the remainder of our ships. The squadron, therefore, incurred a total loss of 10 men killed and 15 wounded, whilst the Germans lost some 2,260 men all told. The crews of their ships totalled 2,432 officers and men, and were estimated as follows:
| Scharnhorst | 872 | Gneisenau | 835 |
| Nürnberg | 384 | Leipzig | 341 |
The prize bounty amounted to the sum of £12,160, to be divided amongst the officers and crews of the Invincible, Inflexible, Carnarvon, Cornwall, Kent, and Glasgow, being calculated at the usual rate of £5 per head. In the course of the Prize Court proceedings the following reference to the German Admiral Count von Spee was made in regard to his action at Coronel: "Whatever others might have thought of this twist of the lion's tail, it appeared that the German Admiral was under no delusion.... It was perhaps as well to put on record that the German Admiral, when he took his fleet into Valparaiso, refused to drink the toast of 'Damnation to the British Navy,' and apparently had a premonition that his end was very near."
The prisoners of war were all sent home in the Macedonia and the storeship Crown of Galicia, but not before Admiral Sturdee had given them to understand in the firmest possible manner that if any man was found tampering with the ship's fittings, or was discovered out of that portion of the ship allocated to his use, he would be very severely dealt with.
The few days spent at Port Stanley after the battle will always live in the memory of those who were present. They were days full of hard work, combined with visits to friends and interesting discussions on individual experiences. The interest of meeting, boarding, and going over other ships to view the shot holes may be imagined. Reports and plans had to be made out. Several ships had to be heeled over to get at the damaged part, and presented a comic appearance, the Cornwall being so far over as to look positively dangerous. All ships had to coal and were busy at it night and day. Few will forget those night coalings—ugh!—in a temperature of forty degrees, with a bitterly cold wind accompanied almost invariably by occasional squalls of hail and rain.
Those cheers we gave one another will not be forgotten; they rang true, being full of pent-up enthusiasm, and, as Mr. John Masefield says, "went beyond the guard of the English heart."
Unfortunately, subsequent events have made it impossible to recall this overwhelming victory without a feeling of sadness due to the loss of the gallant Invincible in the battle of Jutland. One description of that battle says that four of her men succeeded in boarding a raft, and as one of our ships passed, taking them at first for Huns, the narrator adds, "The four got up on their feet and cheered like blazes. It was the finest thing I have ever seen." Most of her crew were lost, but we have at least the satisfaction of knowing they died as heroes.