The Last Dive

{{short description|Non-fiction book by Bernie Chowdhury about a double wreck diving fatality }}

{{More citations needed|date=June 2009}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = The Last Dive.jpg| caption =

| author = Bernie Chowdhury

| illustrator =

| cover_artist = Wes Skiles/Karst Productions, Bradford Foltz

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| subject =

| genre = Non-fiction adventure

| publisher = HarperCollins Publishers, Harper Perennial

| pub_date = 2000, 2002

| english_pub_date =

| media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)

| pages = 356 pp (hardback)

| isbn = 0-06-019462-6 |isbn_note= (hardback), {{ISBN|0-06-093259-7}} (paperback)

| dewey = 363.14, 797.23

| congress = 00-033426

| oclc =

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths (2000){{cite book|author=Chowdhury, Bernie|title= The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1063862.The_Last_Dive|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780060194628|date=2000}} is a non-fiction book written by diver Bernie Chowdhury and published by HarperCollins. It documents the fatal dive of Chris Rouse, Sr. and Chris "Chrissy" Rouse, Jr., a father-son team who perished off the New Jersey coast in 1992. The author is a dive expert and was a friend of the Rouses.{{cite news|first=Laura|last=Miller|url=https://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/10/29/reviews/001029.29mill.html&OQ=_rQ3D2&OP=2527b9f4Q2FYtQ51Q5EYLkQ5BhMkk,YQ5EkkghYPPY9PYvQ2BYMQ51Q3CbQ51thYPP9PvQ2BQ5DvQ2BQ3DbQ2FQ2FQ5Df,Q3DQ2F|title=Out of Their Depth: The story of father-and-son divers who died off the New Jersey coast in 1992.|date=October 29, 2000|journal=New York Times|access-date=July 26, 2013}}

The divers were exploring a German U-boat in {{convert|230|ft}} of water off the coast of New Jersey. Although experienced in using technical diving gas mixtures such as "trimix" (adding helium gas to the nitrogen and oxygen found in air), they were diving on just compressed air. The pair had set out to retrieve the captain's log book from the so-called U-Who to "fulfill their dream of diving into fame."{{cite news |last1=Matthews |first1=Neal |title=Depth charge: 'Shadow Divers' gives the glossy treatment to a true adventure tale, and dive-bombs its credibility |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040711/news_lz1v11divers.html |access-date=July 26, 2013 |date=July 11, 2004}} The U-boat was subsequently identified as U-869.

Chowdhury is a technical diver who, according to writer Neal Matthews' review of Robert Kurson's book Shadow Divers (2004), "was among the first to adapt cave-diving principles to deep-water wrecks".{{cite news|first=Neal|last=Matthews|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040711/news_lz1v11divers.html|title=Depth charge: 'Shadow Divers' gives the glossy treatment to a true adventure tale, and dive-bombs its credibility|date=July 11, 2004|journal=San Diego Union Tribune|access-date=July 26, 2013}} Also according to Matthews, "His book documents how the clashes of equipment philosophy between cave divers and wreck divers mirrored the clash of diving subcultures."