On 15 August, a Royal Navy squadron entered the waters of Kagoshima, the capital city of the Satsuma Domain, to extract the demanded reparations for the Namamugi Incident by force. Meeting further prevarication, they seized several Satsuma ships as hostage for payment, but were unexpectedly fired upon by Satsuma artillery batteries. The squadron retaliated by destroying the Satsuma vessels and bombarding Kagoshima, which had been evacuated. The Satsuma were successfully pushed back, but the British ships were unable to sustain the bombardment and retreated two days later. The battle claimed five lives among the people of Satsuma, and 11 lives among the British (including, with a single cannon shot, both the captain and commander of the British flagship HMS "Euryalus"). Satsuma's material losses were substantial, with around 500 houses destroyed in Kagoshima, and three Satsuma steamships were sunk. The conflict caused much controversy in the British House of Commons, but Acting Vice Admiral Augustus Leopold Kuper's conduct was eventually commended by the House. Kuper was advanced to Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1864 "for his services at Kagoshima". Shimazu Hisamitsu was subsequently given the court title of "Ōsumi no Kami" (大隅守).