SOS is an internationally recognized distress signal used in radio and visual communications. It was adopted in 1905 by Germany and later by the international community. Contrary to popular belief, SOS does not stand for anything specific. Prior to SOS, distress signals included “CQD” and “NC”.
An SOS has been an internationally recognized distress call since 1906. The use of SOS as a distress signal emerged in the early days of radio communications when ships wanted to be able to signal each other quickly and accurately to ask assistance. In addition to being signaled by radio, an SOS can also be signaled by lights, which can be manipulated to spell words and code terms in International Morse Code; on a radio that allows for voice communications, people may use SOS or other terms like “mayday” to indicate that they are in distress on ships, planes, and other vessels.
In Morse code, SOS is written as “…—…” and sounds like “dit dit dit dah dah dah dit dit dit”. Typically, an SOS is signaled with no spaces between the letters, creating a continuous signal, and this differentiates it from other Morse broadcasts. It is also very easy to identify, even if a transmission is picked up in between, because by convention people repeat an SOS several times, with small breaks between individual transmissions. Even in situations where voice communications are available, a broadcast can include SOS calls so that people tuning into it know an emergency is occurring.
The German government was the first to adopt SOS, in 1905, and it was picked up by the international community a year later. There are several advantages to using SOS as a distress signal. For one thing, it is very easy to remember, convey and understand. Furthermore, by choosing a unique signal, the international community ensured that an SOS stood out from other broadcasts, and as SOS is internationally recognised, vessels of any nationality can come to the aid of a vessel in distress.
Contrary to popular belief, “SOS” stands for nothing, although a number of backronyms such as “save our souls” and “save our ship” have been formed from “SOS”. This code was chosen solely on the basis that it was easy to transmit. Incidentally, an SOS is also visually readable in any direction, which can be convenient when written.
Prior to the introduction of SOS, many vessels signaled distress with the code “CQD” followed by the vessel’s call sign. “CQ” stands for “attention to all”, while the “D”, as you can imagine, means “distress”. People also sometimes used the code “NC”, which comes from the International Code of Signals.
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