Upon arrival at Port Stanley on 7 December, Sturdee gave permission for "Bristol" to put out her fires to clean her boilers and repair both engines. He planned to recoal the entire squadron the following day from the two available colliers and to begin the search for the East Asia Squadron the day after. Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the German squadron, had other plans and intended to destroy the radio station at Port Stanley on the morning of 8 December. The appearance of two German ships at 07:30 caught Sturdee's ships by surprise although they were driven off by shells fired by the predreadnought battleship when they came within range around 09:20. This gave time for "Bristol" to reassemble her engines and raise steam. As the ship was leaving harbour around 10:45, she received reports of German ships about south and Sturdee ordered her to intercept and destroy them, together with the armed merchant cruiser . The British ships were able to capture two of the three German colliers and sank them after taking off their crews.