Le France #6
We stayed at a friends house. He told us a story about when he used to be a copywriter for a recruitment company. He had to recruit engineers for an oil tanker. He was shown round a ship to get the feel for what type of person the company needed. As he was shown round the tanker, he saw a swimming pool on deck, at the stern of the ship. The guide explained that although the ships needed huge crews, after their morning duties there was often little to do, and to encourage fitness they had installed a pool. My friend noticed that there were signs posted all around,
'STRICTLY NO DIVING', 'DIVING ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED', 'UNDER ORDER OF THE CAPTAIN AND COMPANY, NO DIVING'. etc.
The guide explained that the ship, being so large, was prone to rocking. The water could suddenly move from one end of the pool to another, and several people had died as a result of diving in at just the wrong moment, and cracking their heads on the bottom.