RMS Lusitania

Every now and again you come across a piece of graffiti that stands out from the usual love notes or so and so was here's, something a bit special. So it was today along one of the tree lined sunken tracks which lead from the high downs into the Chalke Valley.  The Beech trees that flank this track are old and many have been heavily marked by people over the years. The local gamekeeper, a nice chap to 2 fine hounds, who stopped for a chat told us there was history in these trees if only they could talk, and he wasn't wrong. One tree though stuck out. A thick trunked mature Beech on which, 100 years ago this year, was carved a boat under which read 'Lusitania sunk by Germans May 7 1915'. A real piece of history. The RMS Lusitania was indeed sunk off Ireland by a German U-boat U-20 on May 7th 1915 with the loss of 1,191 lives. The RMS Lusitanias sinking caused an outcry across the world as it was seen as a passenger vessel and therefore not a legitimate target, although the Germans stated it was a legitimate target as she was carrying munitions. The British government maintained for decades that there had been no live munitions aboard The RMS Lusitania, only empty shell casing, although in 1982 the government was forced to warn salvage divers that there were in fact large quantities of very dangerous live ammunition on the wreck. Ah, he duplicity of war and the writing of its history by the victors. It's a big piece and would've taken some considerable time to carve, and I wonder why it was carved here? Was it just to record what was a major national event or did someone local loose a friend or relative in the sinking? Whatever, it's a great piece of historical graffiti and I was glad to record it. I'm certain there's a rich seam of heritage graffiti to be mined along this trackway and one to which I'll return to for a longer and closer investigation.