Mayday and SOS are emergency distress signals that have been around for a long time. Today, 911 is widely used to get emergency help. Smartphones, too, have special apps for summoning help. What if it’s your soul that’s wounded, not your body? What then?
The first ocean-going vessel to use an SOS distress signal was not, as many believe, the Titanic in April 1912.
In fact, the wireless operator Jack Phillips, sent out the CQD call which was still widely used at the time. It was only when no help appeared that he began to send an SOS signal interspersed with the CQD call. (Neither CQD nor SOS are acronyms. See Illustrations below). All to no avail.
But, for the passengers and crew of the steamer Kentucky, the SOS signal was a lifesaver. On February 4, 1910, almost 110 years ago, the Kentucky set sail around Cape Horn from New York to Tacoma, Washington. But, according to one source, “it ran into heavy weather outside the Virginia Capes and began to leak badly, faster than the pumps could control.”
At this point, an SOS signal went out, to which a nearby ship, the Alamo, responded, and they were able to save all passengers and crew before the ship went down.
Pilots of aircraft do not send out an SOS. They need only say...
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