Step 3 of 4•15 minutes read
Distress and Radio-Signals of Urgency
The use of distress signals at sea is defined in the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea and in the International Code of Signals.
MAYDAY signals are only allowed when there is grave and imminent danger to life or to the continued viability of the vessel itself. Photo: Jörgen Språng
This is the most important call that can be made, directly concerning a threat to life or the vessel. When this call is made, reasons are usually (but are not limited to), serious injury, death, collision, and fire at sea. When the MAYDAY call is made, the vessel requires immediate assistance.
This is the second most important call, used to announce an urgent message not implying imminent danger. This call is made when there is an emergency aboard a vessel, yet there is no immediate danger to life or the safety of the vessel itself. This includes, but is not limited to injuries on deck, an imminent collision that has not yet occurred, or being unsure of the vessel's position.
This is a more standard procedure call signal, used to announce safety messages. Messages can be navigational warnings, meteorological warnings, and any other warning needing to be issued that may concern the safety of life at sea, yet may not be particularly life-threatening.
Distress and Urgency Communications
Mayday signals are only allowed when there is grave and imminent danger to life or to the continued viability of the vessel itself. Otherwise, urgent signals such as PAN-PAN can be sent. In most waters, there are large penalties for false, unwarranted, or prank distress signals.
“Mayday” is a signal of distress, and it should be followed by a distress message. Properly executed, mayday is repeated three times, followed by:
- Name of the vessel or ship in distress.
- Position (actual, last known, or estimated expressed in lat./long. or in distance/bearing from a specific location).
- Nature of the vessel distress condition or situation (e.g. on fire, sinking, aground, taking on water, adrift in hazardous waters).
- Number of persons at risk or to be rescued; grave injuries
- Type of assistance needed or being sought.
- Any other details to facilitate the resolution of the emergency such as actions being taken (e.g. abandoning ship, pumping flood water), estimated available time remaining afloat.
If verbal distress messages are kept in this standardised manner, it eases any measures taken to aid a vessel in need.
Here is an example contrasting the standardised, rehearsed message form with a more spontaneous (or panicked) version. The examples come from The IMO Standard Maritime Communication Phrases – Refreshing the Memories to Refresh Motivation.
PAN-PAN is the international standard urgency signal that someone aboard a boat, ship, aircraft, or any other vessel that used to declare that they have an urgent situation, but for the time being, does not pose an immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself. The situation is referred to as a state of urgency. This is distinct from a mayday call, meaning a state of distress.
Radioing "PAN-PAN" informs potential rescuers (including emergency services and other craft in the area) that an urgent problem exists, whereas "mayday" calls on them to drop all other activities and immediately begin a rescue. Following the pattern of the Mayday signal, after PAN-PAN has been repeated three times you must first state the vessel's name, position, and what type of help you need. Secondly, if the situation allows for it, the vessel's speed, direction, number of passengers, and what measures have been taken or are planned to take.
When M/S Estonia began to capsize in the Baltic Sea in 1994, Helsinki Radio transmitted this PAN-PAN to call for help:
"PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN all stations, all stations, PAN-PAN all stations, all stations Helsinki radio calling, Helsinki radio calling, PAN-PAN, calling mayday 27th of September at two-three two-four GMT on two-one S two from passenger ship Estonia echo, sierra, tango, echo in position 59.22 north, 21.48 east. List of 20-30 degrees. All ships in the vicinity should look out and inform the coast guard on channel sixteen. PAN-PAN Helsinki Radio”.
The message transmitted is correct in form, but it has later been established that Helsinki Radio severely underestimated the situation by using PAN-PAN instead of Mayday.
- Sècuritè calls take priority over all communications, besides distress (Mayday) and urgency (PAN-PAN). The call should not be acknowledged by voice, instead of listened to and noted.
- Sècuritè calls should be made over channel 16 or 2182 and then directed to a working channel or frequency for the affected. It is therefore important to identify the targeted group, if possible. The target group can be all ships, ships of a specific geographic area, or an individual ship. Lastly, the call should be made. Example of SÈCURITÈ message:
- Sècuritè, Sècuritè, Sècuritè. All stations, all stations, all stations.
This is 278094322, Spinnaker, Spinnaker, Spinnaker, call sign Sierra 7 Lima 2 3. Navigation warning 0922 GMT. Position 45° 36’ North 013° 32’ East. Sighted 3 20-foot cargo containers partially submerged. Danger to navigation. OUT
Value of Standardised Communications
Here follows a real-life example, illustrating the difference between verbally standardized versus non-standardised communication in an emergency. The vessel name has been altered, and the voice belongs to an actor. But the actual message was transmitted from a ship in a grave emergency. Imagine being the receiver of this distress message, adding in your imagination radio static and perhaps an even more panicked transmitter voice.
Which version would be easier for you to act upon?
Transcript. Non-standardized, actually transmitted message:
Mayday any ships around Cole Head hear me? This is MV Clive – two holds blazing furiously – no chance to put the fire out – plates buckling – got into trouble with the machinery, too – total blackout – please come at once – the situation on the brink – she may go down any minute – we can’t last much longer – over.
This is how the same message reads when we apply standards picked up from this course in Maritime English:
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is MV Clive MV Clive MV Clive.
Mayday MV Clive. My position bearing 025°, distance 6.5 n.m. of Cole Head. I am on fire in holds. Fire is not under control. I am not under command. I require assistance – over.
Keep Practicing Your Maritime English
You now have familiarised yourself with Maritime English throughout this course. You might agree that it is a somewhat harsh way to communicate; as was pointed out earlier, it is not founded to be a friendly or social language.
In a real-life situation or an emergency, we tend to have the worst conditions for communication. This is especially true when communicating with worried guests or passengers who might be depending on your directions and leadership to do the right things on board.