The rescued 13 survivors (eight from "Clonlara", five from "Alva"). Eight merchant ships, two naval escorts and over 400 lives were lost. Five of the convoy's surviving merchant ships reached Gibraltar; 10 retreated to neutral Portugal. This was described as ""a bitter act of surrender could ever come our way"". In Lisbon "Lanahrone"s crew went on strike, which was resolved with extra life-rafts and pay. The crew of "Irish Poplar" was waiting in Lisbon; when the remnants of OG 71 limped in. The crew of "Irish Poplar" resolved to sail home alone. While "City of Dublin" brought "Clonlara"s survivors to Cork, "Lanahrone" joined Convoy HG 73. Nine of the 25 ships in that convoy were lost. These experiences and the inability of the Royal Navy to protect merchant ships had a most profound effect on all Irish Ships. Thereafter they were blacked out when sailing in Allied convoys. Ship-owners, on the advice of their masters, decided not to sail their vessels in British convoys and by the early months of 1942 the practice had ceased. Captain William Henderson of "Irish Elm", returning from a transatlantic voyage reported "circled by two German bombers, probably Condors, they circled for a considerable time and inspected closely but didn't molest. The incident had given the crew great confidence in the protection afforded by the neutral markings". This "cross-channel" trade accounted for most of Ireland's trade. The ships ranged, in age, from "Dundalk", built two years before the start of the war in 1937, to "Brooklands" built in 1859. The most important vessels to Ireland were the ten colliers and to Britain the livestock carriers. Initially Germany respected the neutrality of Irish vessels, apologising for the first attack on the collier "Kerry Head" and paying compensation. Losses came from mines, rather than direct attacks. "Meath" suffered such a fate; while she was being inspected by the British Naval Control Service, she was struck by a magnetic mine, drowning seven hundred cattle, and destroying both vessels. In August 1940 Germany "required" Ireland to cease food exports to Britain. On 17 August 1940, Germany declared a large area around Britain to be a "scene of warlike operations". It was believed that attacks on Irish ships and the bombing of Campile was to reinforce that message. Lord Haw-Haw in a broadcast on German, threatened that Dundalk would be bombed if the export of cattle to Britain continued.