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

by Max Nohl

An outdoor adventure memoir by a legendary diver and innovator who never stopped pushing the limit

I Live Underwater is the highly anticipated posthumous memoir of Max Nohl, a larger-than-life thrill seeker and treasure hunter who revolutionized deep-sea diving. Recounting harrowing experiences with tangled air-hoses, hungry sharks, untested scientific theories, and painful cases of the bends, Nohl’s vivid narrative shows how his unquenchable thirst for adventure propelled him to transcend fear and become one of the field’s great innovators—shattering the diving record in 1937 as the first person to dive deeper than 400 feet. 

Beginning with the disquieting childhood experiences that inspired his obsession with the underwater world, Nohl goes on to discuss his innovative work on the first self-contained diving suit as a student at MIT and his risky experiments in breathing helium to achieve deeper dives. In addition to making vital contributions to the commercial diving industry, Nohl was a pioneer in underwater filming, developing equipment and techniques that were employed in many Hollywood film and television productions. 

After Nohl’s sudden death in 1960 in a car accident, his nearly complete memoir sat in the Milwaukee Public Library Archives—unpublished, until now. Accompanying this page-turning text is a dynamic assortment of images, including Nohl’s original pen-and-ink sketches and historic photos of Nohl and his collaborators. A foreword by Wisconsin Historical Society maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen provides insights into Nohl’s many important contributions to the diving world and to Wisconsin history and culture.

Includes stories of dives in Lake Michigan (near Milwaukee), the North Atlantic (near Marblehead and Martha’s Vineyard), Walden Pond, the Gulf Coast (near Morgan City, Louisiana, and Panama City, Apalachicola, Wakulla Springs, and Tarpon Springs in Florida), and the Caribbean (near Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
 

424 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 2025

Reviews

[Squirrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the e-book edition, ISBN 978-19766-0029-6

First, what a cool collaboration - Wisconsin Historical Society and the Milwaukee Public Library.

Second, who knew? All that diving equipment and knowledge and lore from ... a Milwaukee person?

Third, what a tale! With all the effort of many hands, the author's voice comes through clear and - its impossible not to laugh, thinking, oh, the hubris and energy of innocent imagination. Its even more amazing as the author reminds the reader of his early terror under the water, which also led to his fascination with it

Would anyone who really knows diving would have done what these guys did, the way they did it? Some, perhaps, and it is crazy fun to read about. Mostly. A traditional editorial treatment would have strongly improved this report. For example, in Ch 7, the description of the fatal diving attempt by a student colleague is relayed, with the typical lack of 'wrap-up'. Perhaps to allow the reader to maintain emotional distance, the victim is unnamed, and the loss treated like a footnote. But the reader knows that would have been an entire story in itself, and it seems heartless that the editors did not research and at least mention, memorialize, the name of the failed diver. Because failed attempts are as much a contribution to new technology as are successes. They add support for series and procedures, help identify critical vs desirable strategies. The 'cut-to-the-heart' narrative reads like an unfinished draft without these details.

At points it is a tedious read, this combination bio-history book about a science-engineering area of development. It is often a flat delivery, a timeline-based history book. One wishes this were a talk being given by the author, so the asides, main points, and enthusiasms would come through clearly as such. The 'voice' is there, but it takes effort to recognize. For example, Ch 5 begins, "College was in the air." And the reader thinks, oh no, do we have to go through a young man's escapades and conquests now? But it turns out to be simply an intro to the timing of the section. Imagining the author at a podium, changing his stance, relaxing a bit, and saying that, makes it seem much more a promise of new discoveries than an obligatory entry in a bio.

Still, the efforts and antics will ring a bell with anyone who was or was around young engineer wannabes - whether jumping off the roof with an umbrella for 'wings' or putting a motor on a bicycle to see if it would fly.

This also highlights, perhaps incidentally, how far science has come across all disciplines. Ch5 the author writes: "In high school...I had had a few brilliant streaks in physics, algebra, geometry, and science subjects, but the fact that these corresponded to my nonacademic interests was 0ureoy coincidental." Even fundamental studies in neurology at the time would demonstrate the 'corresponding' interests and abilities were anything but 'coincidental' - the brain is malleable, interest leads to time spent on a subject leads to increased skill and knowledge in the subject. It seems surprising the author would not have learned this at some point in his life, as in the modern world, most college students would have gained this insight as they take aptitude and achievement tests throughout their school years.

It becomes impossible NOT to be excited with the author's experiences and discoveries. When Max Nohl meets Vose Greenough, who invites him to GO diving, the reader wants to cheer. This is exciting, two students with a common passion finding each other - at the right time!

The escapades are well told, lacking, however, the author's feelings, and perhaps some 'endings' and some transitions between events or sections. For example, after a compelling relating of the author's very first dive in a suit under 10" of ice in the winter - at Walden Pond! - there is no wrap-up of the story before staring the next experience. Did the diver suffer frostbite? Did he need days in a warm environment to recover from the intense cold exposure? Who was the team there besides himself and Vose? Did they all go out for beers or food and talk about their experience? Did Vose ever comment on whether he felt Max was an idiotic to risk himself in sub-freezing weather? At the end of Ch 13, Nohl has lost all of his equipment, all of his money is gone - how did he feel about that? After such bad economic decisions, 'his father decided to fund the rest of his education' at MIT? Was he relieved? Was he always a privileged? Even as a young man, doesn't 'losing everything' to frankly horrible judgment result in ANY adverse consequences? No disappointment, no despondency? And if not, why not? Water off a duck's back, or did his friends buoy him up?

Perhaps a publisher would have supplied notes to add such comments, had the book been accepted while the author was still alive. Without this, the reader needs to pause between bits to process. Even in this treatment, these sections should have some sort of spacer between, to let the reader know a new mini-chapter is next.

In all, despite the slow read, despite the imperfections in presentation, the content, the many many pictures, and the topic, the inside information, and the excitement of discovery, make this a valuable read. The cooperation of so many different entities, including societies, public institutions, and private families, to make this come to light, seems just another triumph to celebrate the accomplishments that now benefit divers and sea enthusiasts world-wide.

Paused at Ch 20 Cargo. Will likely return on a cold winter night. This reads like Treasure Island. The writing tells a story, relays the experience, with little emotion, and so its a slow read, offering miniscule details and some thoughts but no real feelings around it.