A Review of "I Live Underwater" -

A Review of “I Live Underwater”

Nohl, Max Gene, 2025, I Live Underwater: A Memoir, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Madison, WI, 398 p.

Article by Jeffrey Bozanic

For decades I have wondered who, exactly, Max Nohl was. All I knew about him was that he had done a dive to 420 feet using a helium/oxygen breathing gas mix in 1937, and lived to tell the tale. How did he accomplish that? What equipment did he use? What was his background? Did he accomplish anything else of note? Who, exactly, was Max Nohl?

The helmet used on Nohl’s first dive. Left to right: Max Nohl, Jack Browne, and Verne Netzow. Nohl wrote, “We later attempted to make this into a complete suit, patching together a pair of old overshoes and the rubber from several discarded inner tubes. Comparatively, a sieve is watertight.” Credit: Milwaukee Public Library

When I was offered an opportunity to read a pre-publication release of a manuscript written by Nohl, I jumped at the chance. I did not know what to expect, but I did want to learn more about his record setting 1937 dive. What I found were a bunch of surprises, and many intersections with my own diving career.

The first chapter details how Nohl drowned in Moose Lake, Wisconsin when he was a young boy. I immediately flashed back to the stories that my Mom would tell of me being recovered from the bottom of swimming pools, occasionally necessitating artificial respiration, sometimes not… community pools, relative’s pools, swim school pools. I had an affinity for the water, and believed (incorrectly) that I knew how to swim. The difference is that I was not old enough to remember those events. Nohl was. One might think that would deter someone from entering deep water again… but not Nohl.

John Craig (left) and Nohl (right) prepare for a test of a self-contained adaptation of the standard US Navy suit. Helium tanks are at their feet. Credit: Milwaukee Public Library

One of my most memorable scuba dives was on the Empire Mica, in 1988, I think. Located south of Panama City Beach in the Florida panhandle, it was torpedoed by a German U-boat during WWII. Nohl was diving there in 1944, just two years after it sank. His description of thousands of barracuda evoked memories of the thick schools of fish I encountered on the wreck. And his recital of his decompression was almost eerie in its similarity to what happened to me during my decompression stop. Both of us found ourselves hurtling through the water just a few feet below the surface holding to our respective safety lines after the anchor lines securing our respective vessels to the wreck parted while we were still in the water.

I could have been in a time machine. I dove in Wakulla Spring 35 years after Nohl did, yet his description of the water was just as apt for my dives as they were his. However, Nohl’s freedom to dive in Wakulla Spring contrasted with the constraints I had while diving in the same location. I was jealous reading of the broad range of his activities there, and the unique dive support structures that he emplaced to further his goals.

Nohl (left) and Jack Browne (right) with prototype II of the self-contained diving suit. Credit: Courtesy of Kathy End

I am a co-inventor on several patents dealing with rebreathers. I have also written a textbook on the topic. I had no idea that Nohl designed and marketed a rebreather in the 1950s. Nor that his first patent, filed in 1939, described a recirculating respirator that enabled him as a 27-yo diver to descend to 420 feet in Lake Michigan. In addition to our similar interests, he also had problems equalizing on many of his dives, including his record setting deep dive. I could completely see myself in his boots as he described the frustration and pain that he faced on some of his dives.

I was surprised to hear of the close friendship and business relationship that he had with Jack Browne. Browne and Nohl began DESCO together. DESCO went on to become one of the largest equipment suppliers in the world for commercial divers. It was also curious to learn of his association with John Craig, another diving legend of whom I have read. (Danger is My Business is the name of the book that Craig wrote, which I read dozens of years ago.)

Inside the pressure chamber of the Milwaukee County Hospital, experimenting with helium. Dr. Edgar End at left, checking Nohl’s pulse. At right is John Craig. Credit: Milwaukee Public Library

Well beyond my experience, though, was his recounting of the early research work he participated in in decompression sickness, saturation diving experiments, and with the neutrally buoyant diving bell that he designed and built at about the same time that Barton and Beebe built and dove their bell off Bermuda to a depth of over a half mile. Nohl was truly an amazing man and dive pioneer in many areas.

Unfortunately, Nohl was killed along with his wife in 1960. He had submitted the manuscript for this book to a literary agent a few weeks before his unfortunate accident, and since that time it has been preserved in the Milwaukee Public Library’s (MPL) Local History Manuscript Collections (LHMC). Nohl’s manuscript will be published in May 2025 by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. All I can say is, “Thank you!” for making this story available to us!

Nohl, wearing his “diving lung,” with cameras in the Dominican Republic. Credit: Milwaukee Public Library

I Live Underwater: The Thrilling Adventures of a Record-Breaking Diver, Treasure Hunter, and Deep-Sea Explorer

Written by Max Gene Nohl

Wisconsin Historical Society
Paperback: $30.00 | 408 pages, 6 x 9 inches | ISBN: 978-1-9766-0028-9

E-Book: $15.99 | ISBN: 978-1-9766-0029-6

Publication Date: May 20, 2025

This review was originally published on April 30, 2025 at https://indepthmag.com/the-review-i-live-underwater-by-max-gene-nohl/.

Jeffrey Bozanic is a technical diving instructor and research scientist. Based in southern California, Jeff provides consulting and training services in the diving market. Specializing in rebreather use, he is probably best known for his seminal textbook on the topic, Mastering Rebreathers, and his work as senior Technical Editor for the 6th Edition of the NOAA Diving Manual. He has been honored with the NAUI Lifetime Achievement Award, DAN/Rolex Diver of the Year, AAUS Conrad Limbaugh Award for Scientific Diving Leadership, and the AUAS NOGI (Sports/Education).