In mid-October, "Bristol", together with the armoured cruiser and two armed merchant cruisers was assigned to a new squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Archibald Stoddart that was tasked to patrol the South American coast north of Montevideo, Uruguay. After Craddock's squadron was destroyed in the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, the ship rendezvoused at the Abrolhos Archipelago on 26 November with the reinforcements commanded by Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee. The ships then proceeded to the Falkland Islands where they arrived on 7 December.