The Last Dive's Chrissy Rouse -- would he have survived today?

[BigJetDriver]

Folks,

As one trained in dive medicine and hyperbaric work, I must point out that MB and RIO have made critical points in any discussion of this case. The damage to his system was both massive and fulminating. It is miraculous that he was alive to that point, but nothing that we have, even today could have reversed that damage.

RO and Andy make excellent points as well. The errors in the Rouse's preparations and headwork are what wound up killing them. As we know from aviation, almost no accidents are caused by single events. They are always a chain of events, sometimes very small, but when put together, lead to the inevitable disaster.

If you break that chain anywhere along it, you avoid the outcome. Something as simple as using trimix for mental clarity on that dive could easily have made the difference.

The analysis of this event is a true "cautionary tale", and if we in the diving community learn from it, then this discussion has served an excellent purpose! :doctor:

 

[amascuba]

I think we see it differently. The first mistake was the decision to dive air. That decision was made long before the dive. The choose to penetrate what they knew was a fairly cluttered wreck at something like 60 metres while narced. They choose to stage their deco gas outside the wreck but *knowing* that they were going to do this, they failed to stage redundant gas on the upline and although I don't recall anything about it in the book I suspect they failed to lay a guideline to the anchor which may have caused them to get disorientated enough to make a free ascent instead of returning to the upline..... I could go on but you see where it's going. They made a number of mistakes in their preparation and planning that even to the casual observer look pretty sloppy by today's standard.

R..

At that time though Trimix wasn't as readily available and accepted as it is today. Many people dove deep wrecks on air back then. Basically people were more acclimated to doing deep dives on air back then then they are today. I can see your point(s) though.

 

[genxweb]

Chrissy Rouse's death is explained well in the shadow diver book. Now it still is a book though the author swears that all information in the book is facts and none of it has been altered to add to the story. With that being said I will give a quick summary of what they said happened in that book.

According to the story Chrissy and his dad where cave divers and they practiced leaving their deco bottles attached outside the wreck as some cave divers leave their bottles on the lines. Chrissy was penetrating the wreck his last few dives trying to free a peace of kanvas from underneath some debri. At the point he nearly had it free he was at the end of his dive plan and narcosis was strong. From the book it says as he pullled the kanvas free a large piece of steal landed on him pinning his head down he struggled and could not free himself. He was later quoted as saying a monster was sitting on his head. His father realizing that Chrissy was past his dive time went in to find him and worked to free him, by this time chrissy was narced beyond control. Since the wreck was all stired up and vis was down to 0 they could not find the way out the way they came in so they exited further down the ship away from the line and deco bottles. Supposingly on the torpedo up they stoped around 100 feet because they saw the anchor line and had plan to do a short deco there and head to the surface but chrissy still bolted and the father followed. Once they surfaced the divers on the boat new it was over for them and once the coast guard came they fought to tell them dont waste the time with the dad just take chrissy. Though they took both.


Now previous to the invent the conditions that day where horriable and no one should of dove but it was the last dive of the season so they did it.

Now this is close to what it said in the book "shadow divers" I suggest you read it it was a real well written book and the dive terminology was exact and detailed.


IMO they where both dead as soon as they left that boat and tried a free acsent. Being as narced as the book describes I could not see them being able to even to control their boyounacy to make a proper acsent without the line.

 

[plankspanker]

Read the book, it was a classic darwin moment. If somebody pulls a stupid stunt like these two guys I call it like I see it. They would have died eventually.

From your obvious wealth of experience please break it down for us just exactly what these mistakes were as we could all benefit I'm sure. Seriously I would love to hear what you have to think about it and I hope you aren't just going to quote some paragraphs out of a book because that would be pretty lame.

 

[Chaseh]

Read the book, it was a classic darwin moment. If somebody pulls a stupid stunt like these two guys I call it like I see it. They would have died eventually.

I have read the book as well as Shadow Divers which also covers the incident.

The point is your post contributes nothing to the discussion and by saying that you "hate to bash the dead but" shows that you're aware that what you're saying is in bad taste and has no purpose, but you're chossing to post it anyway.

Also, at the time, many of the divers making that dive were using air and the Rouses were actually ahead of their time in using Trimix, but that day they made a horrible choice to dive on air because they were so psyched to make the dive and couldn't afford the mixed gases right then.

 

[cerich]

I have read that book and another one about "Death on the Andrea Doria"(?) and some others. It seems that there were a lot of divers dying during that time period including Sheck Exley who developed and recorded many of the safety rules we take for granted today. A lot of those guys did some stupid stuff (judged by todays standards) and paid for it with their lives. However you look at it IMHO we owe them all a debt for their explorer spirit and willingness to push the limits. I saw a quote one time about the freedoms we enjoy in this country and I think it applies to diving as well. "We all stand on the shoulders of bloody giants". Don't know who said it but I think it fits.
Anyway, I wonder if there is anyone on the "Board" that knew those guys. It would be interesting to hear how they were seen by their contemporaries.

These guys weren't among the great pioneers in the tech world. All they are is famous for being dead in a spectacular fashion. By the time they died most of what is now considered common was well established. The very fact they were T Mix certified shows that, the pioneers did it before there was Tech diving agencies or cards.
They made many mistakes and fell victim to the "not me" attitude that gets folks in every field, not just diving. The whole dive planning was bad, from air to save money, to leaving deco gas outside the boat and almost every aspect I can think of.

It is a shame they died but a risk we take on dives like this.

 

[Sharkbait]

From your obvious wealth of experience please break it down for us just exactly what these mistakes were as we could all benefit I'm sure. Seriously I would love to hear what you have to think about it and I hope you aren't just going to quote some paragraphs out of a book because that would be pretty lame.

1) Deep air diving
2) Deep air diving on a wreck
3) Not having enough gas to properly manage the dive profile
4) Having a macho attitude about making a dive.

[edited to remove name-calling]

 

[H2Andy]

Please read our Terms of Service. If you can not abide by them, we ask that
you do not participate in discussions that get heated.

No name calling (personal attacks) is allowed in ScubaBoard, towads the living or the dead:

Profane, insulting or mean spirited language is simply not allowed here. Neither is any sort of harassment or bullying. Threats of any sort are grounds for immediate banishment. While the debates may wax passionate, there is no need to revert to personal attacks.

 

[Bratface]

Last Dive is an impressive book. I read it just as I was taking my Nitrox class. I find it unbelievable that they were diving on air. They made many, many mistakes. It is a miracle that they even made it to the surface alive.

Read the book and make your own decision about their deaths. It is a very sad story with important lessons for all divers.

 

[utdivermatt]

I am reading it right now and think it is a fantastic book... kinda ruins the ending reading the thread, but thats my fault. I think it reminds everyone of stuff they learned in class, and just provides real life proof of the 'dont do this and that' I was told by my instructor. Even though it is a sad story, it acts like much history, and teaches the reader things they dont want to learn on there own. I think most people who read it can see it affect there diving in a way no training book can.