Nevertheless, it was not all watch on board the Rebound. Work was the principal order of the night. Certain repairs had to be put in hand forthwith; others less urgent had to wait, while much of the damage was beyond the resources of the ship and would have to be deferred until she was in dockyard hands. But before dawn, the débris had been dumped overboard. A turret, which had been jammed at the same time that B turret was knocked out, was again in fighting trim. The rents in the two funnels were patched, thereby freeing the ship from the danger and inconvenience of spark-laden smoke sweeping for'ard along the boat deck. The damaged tripod mast was strengthened by means of steel rods and booms "woolded" with fathoms of flexible steel wire and light chain. Electric-light circuits and pipes belonging to the Downton pump system had been repaired and the wireless aerials renewed.
The Rebound was no longer cut off from the rest of the world and the fleet in particular. It was now possible to receive a fairly accurate account of the battle. The remnants of the Rioguayan fleet had gained Venezuelan territorial waters, and were creeping within the three-mile limit towards their base. Every vessel flying the Republican colours was carefully watched over by the British light cruisers and destroyers, ready, should the enemy vessels incautiously go outside the limit of neutral waters, to "slap in a mouldy" (torpedo) or to open fire. Throughout the night, the course of the demoralized Rioguayan ships was carefully checked by scores of British sextants, while gunlayers stood by with fingers itching to press firing trigger, and leading torpedo-men lingered longingly over the "bar" by which the deadly Whitehead was dispatched on its errand of death and destruction. The Rioguayan battleships had put up a good fight at the commencement of the action. Confident in their superior numbers, they fired salvo after salvo with commendable accuracy; but when the British shells began to find their target with a skill and rapidity that was an eye-opener to the Republican crews, the moral of the Rioguayans simply vanished.
Of their capital ships, two were blown up by gunfire, three were torpedoed and sunk, two were captured, although of these one was in a sinking state and had to be abandoned by her prize crew during the night.
Their light cruisers had come off lightly, for directly the Rioguayan battleships turned sixteen points and fell back, they played for safety, steaming off at full speed to the nor'ard. Nevertheless, three had been overhauled and sunk by five light cruisers of the D class.
Amongst the hostile destroyers the losses were also slight, for they, too, were broken reeds. One flotilla did, however, attempt a night attack upon the severely-punished British battleships, but was driven off by the supporting light cruisers and destroyers with a loss of six out of the fourteen craft originally comprising the flotilla. It was already perfectly clear that President Samuda's plans for the future greatness of Rioguaya—and incidentally of himself—stood a particularly poor chance of ever being realized if they depended for success on naval supremacy.
On the British side the losses were heavy, but confined chiefly, as far as ships were concerned, to the light cruisers and destroyers, which pushed home the attack with a dash and daring worthy of the traditions of the senior service. All the battleships had survived the action and were still capable of dealing hard knocks. The Rebound had been seriously damaged; the Royal Oak had received three big shells just above the waterline, but, although listing to starboard, was able to maintain her station. The Retrench had practically all the guns in her battery on the port side put out of action, but her turret guns were undamaged. The Repulse, on which the dockyard staff at Bermuda had set right her defects in time for her to take her place in the line, had both her bows and stern blown away as far as the 4-inch armoured belt. Her mainmast had gone by the board. Altogether, she looked a wreck, but the damage hardly impaired her fighting qualities, the ship being quite tight below the water-line and her armament intact.
The losses in personnel were great: 1015 killed and 622 wounded. Of these, the casualties on board the Rebound accounted for 125 killed and 82 wounded. The excess of fatalities was a clear indication of the destructive power of guns. Wherever a heavy shell burst it killed everyone within the battery or turret. The wounded were mostly hit by fragments of flying metal at a considerable distance from the point of impact, or were severely burnt by fires that broke out simultaneously in different parts of the ship. Only a very small percentage received slight wounds. Except on board the destroyers and light cruisers, there were no casualties from the enemy quick-firers, the missiles failing to penetrate the armoured parts of the ship. It was a stiff price to pay, and the task of subduing the Republic of Rioguay was not yet accomplished. There were still the Rioguayan flying-boats and submarines to be taken into consideration. Britain's capital ships, though few in number, had vindicated themselves against superior numbers of hostile surface ships. Would they be able to confound the enemy and the critics who so loudly declared that the day of the big battleship was over, and that air-power would overwhelm the long-standing might of Britannia's trident?