Most of the ship's crew managed to escape; only eight men were killed in the attack, with another twenty-nine wounded.
The British auxiliary cruiser HMS Orama took fifteen severely wounded men to Valparaiso; four of them died.
The destruction of his ship had left Lüdecke in shock, and so Canaris took responsibility for the fate of the ship's crew.
They remained on the island for five days until two Chilean warships brought a German passenger ship to take the men to Quiriquina Island, where they were interned for the duration of the war.
Canaris escaped from the internment camp on 5 August 1915 and reached Germany exactly two months later.
On 31 March 1917, a small group of men escaped on the Chilean barque Tinto; the voyage back to Germany lasted 120 days.
The rest of the crew did not return to Germany until 1920.

The wreck lies at a depth of 70 meters (230 ft).
In 2002, the first survey of the wreck was done by a team led by James P. Delgado for the Sea Hunters documentary produced by the National Underwater and Marine Agency.
The team included the archaeologist Dr. Willi Kramer, the first German to visit the wreck since she sank 88 years before.
Dresden lies on her starboard side pointed north, toward the beach.
The wreck is heavily damaged; much of the upper works, including the bridge, the masts, the funnels, and many of the guns have been torn from the ship.
The bow has been cut off by the scuttling charges detonated by the ship's crew, and sits upright on the sea floor.
The stern is also badly damaged, with the main deck blasted away and many shell holes in the ship's side.
Some of the damage to the aft of the ship appears to have been done by an undocumented salvage operation before Delgado's survey.
According to German records, Dresden was carrying gold coins from their colony at Tsingtau; Delgado speculated that this salvage work was an attempt to retrieve these.

In 1965, the ship's compass and several flags were recovered and returned to Germany, where they are held at the German Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg-Mürwik.
In 2006, Chilean and German divers found and recovered Dresden's bell, which is now in Germany.
CS Forester's novel Brown on Resolution, and two subsequent movies, were inspired by the Dresden's escape and subsequent destruction.
Most of the ship's crew managed to escape; only eight men were killed in the attack, with another twenty-nine wounded. The British auxiliary cruiser HMS Orama took fifteen severely wounded men to Valparaiso; four of them died. The destruction of his ship had left Lüdecke in shock, and so Canaris took responsibility for the fate of the ship's crew. They remained on the island for five days until two Chilean warships brought a German passenger ship to take the men to Quiriquina Island, where they were interned for the duration of the war. Canaris escaped from the internment camp on 5 August 1915 and reached Germany exactly two months later. On 31 March 1917, a small group of men escaped on the Chilean barque Tinto; the voyage back to Germany lasted 120 days. The rest of the crew did not return to Germany until 1920.
The wreck lies at a depth of 70 meters (230 ft). In 2002, the first survey of the wreck was done by a team led by James P. Delgado for the Sea Hunters documentary produced by the National Underwater and Marine Agency. The team included the archaeologist Dr. Willi Kramer, the first German to visit the wreck since she sank 88 years before. Dresden lies on her starboard side pointed north, toward the beach. The wreck is heavily damaged; much of the upper works, including the bridge, the masts, the funnels, and many of the guns have been torn from the ship. The bow has been cut off by the scuttling charges detonated by the ship's crew, and sits upright on the sea floor. The stern is also badly damaged, with the main deck blasted away and many shell holes in the ship's side. Some of the damage to the aft of the ship appears to have been done by an undocumented salvage operation before Delgado's survey. According to German records, Dresden was carrying gold coins from their colony at Tsingtau; Delgado speculated that this salvage work was an attempt to retrieve these.
In 1965, the ship's compass and several flags were recovered and returned to Germany, where they are held at the German Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg-Mürwik. In 2006, Chilean and German divers found and recovered Dresden's bell, which is now in Germany. CS Forester's novel Brown on Resolution, and two subsequent movies, were inspired by the Dresden's escape and subsequent destruction.
SMS Dresden (1907)