The light cruiser was the only German ship able to disengage from the battle and Sturdee ordered "Bristol" to Puntas Arenas, Chile, after the ship was reported coaling there on 13 December. She arrived there the next day, but "Dresden" had left the night before. "Bristol" spent the next several months hunting for the German cruiser along the Argentinian and Chilean coasts and in the innumerable bays and inlets of Tierra del Fuego. During this time, she struck a shoal and seriously damaged her rudder on 22 February 1915. In late April, the ship began patrolling off the Brazilian coast. "Bristol" began a major refit at Gibraltar on 27 May that lasted until 5 August. Upon its completion, she was transferred to the British Adriatic Force to help contain the Austro-Hungarian Fleet and defend the Otranto Barrage. She then spent most of the next several months patrolling the lower reaches of the Adriatic Sea and the Strait of Otranto. On 3 October, her crew was inspected by Rear-Admiral Cecil Thursby. On 26 November, "Bristol" sailed for Gibraltar en route to a refit at William Beardmore and Company's shipyard in Dalmuir that began on 17 December.