William Brown was born in south Texas in 1928. He left Texas in 1944 to go work as a tender for his uncle's diving business in California. He entered the U.S. Merchant Marine in 1945. He continued working as a seaman and diver until 1958 when he devoted all his time to diving. His first job in Louisiana was helping to build a bridge over I-10 in 1947. He operated his own company, Deep Diving Company, from 1946 until 1966. After that he worked for several companies, including J&J Marine Services and Dick Evans Divers. He quit diving in 1976 after he was injured on a diving job.