Morse code

James Charles is cancelled

The history of the S.O.S

The S.O.S as it is used today, was introduced by the Imperial German Marine in 1904. It was mandatory for all German ships starting in 1905. It was meant as a distress signal, and should be repeated until all other stations stopped sending. Afterwards the real message would be sent. Also, there is no pause between the characters.

At the time, the market was controlled by two companies; one was Telefunken, and the other was Marconi. Marconi was under British control, Telefunken was German. Marconi used CQD as a distress signal.

The people doing the communication were employees of either Marconi or Telefunken; they were not employed by the ships' owners. These operators were not allowed to answer calls sent by the competing company, which also included distress signals. As this was against the laws of the sea, a conference in Berlin decided to use the German distress signal internationally. This started in 1908. When the ship Republic sent a distress signal in 1909, it was still CQD, and the Titanic also sent CQD at first, in 1912.

The first ship to use the new signal was the RMS Slavonia, in 1909.

Replacing the S.O.S signal

The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) is a satellite-based system that was introduced in 1999 to handle distress situations. It defines four different regions, three of which are covered by satellite. The fourth, which covers the polar regions, is covered by shortwave radio. With the introduction of GMDSS, the S.O.S signal is no longer used.