"The fairest of maiden's reposing, so wonderously up there."

[QUOTE]German Tourist Ship Grounded on Rhine, 40 Hurt
Sun September 28, 2003
ST GOAR, Germany (Reuters) - A German tourist ship ran aground on Sunday on the River Rhine near the legendary Loreley cliff, hurting more than 40 people, three badly.
A police spokesman said three of the more than 40 people injured were seriously hurt when the ship ran onto rocks near the Loreley cliff south of the city of Koblenz, which legend says is home to a beautiful nymph who calls to sailors.

It took several hours to evacuate the ship, also called the "Loreley," which has a capacity of 500 passengers but was not full at the time of the accident.

Even after the ship was towed away, traffic on the Rhine was still blocked by parts of its engine and the police said it was not certain if the river would be open again on Sunday.

Water levels on the Rhine have fallen to record lows in recent weeks, limiting shipping on what is usually Europe's busiest waterway.

source: reuters[/QUOTE]


View of "MS Loreley"



HAMBURG, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Shipping on the river Rhine has been seriously disrupted as water levels at the critical point of Kaub near Koblenz have fallen to a new record low, the association of German inland waterways ship operators BDB said on Thursday.

Levels at Kaub, the most vulnerable point to low water, fell to 40 centimetres on Thursday from 50 cm on Monday.
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The title of this thread, btw, is taken from the English translation of Heinrich Heine's poem "Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten"