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SOS Distress Signal Stands For….

It is commonly held that “SOS” is an acronym for “Save Our Ship” and thus often written “S.O.S.”  In truth, SOS is not an acronym for anything.

So why was SOS chosen to signify a distress signal?  The thought was that SOS- in Morse code signified by three dots, three dashes, then three dots- could not be misinterpreted as being a message for anything else.  Further, being sent together as one string (with no stops), it could be sent very quickly and needed very little power to transmit.

So, despite what you might have read elsewhere, as the 1918 Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony notes, “This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character.  There is no special significance in the letters themselves…”

Bonus Facts:

• In 1909, T.D. Haubner of the SS Arapahoe became the first person to use the SOS distress signal call.  The ship he worked on had lost its screw near the Diamond Shoals which are also known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic”.  Interestingly, a few months later Haubner, still working on the SS Arapahoe, received the world’s second official SOS call; this one sent from the SS Iroquois.
• The creator of the S.O.S pads wife thought that the SOS signal stood for “Save Our Ships,” which inspired her to name her husband’s cleaning pads S.O.S, standing for “Save Our Saucepans“.
• Contrary to popular belief, the last period in the “S.O.S” brand was not left off due to an error in the trademark submission.  In fact, they meant to leave it off because “S.O.S.” could not be trademarked thanks to the SOS distress signal often being written as “S.O.S.”, even though it’s not an acronym.  By leaving the last period off, it made the name unique enough for the U.S. Patent and Trademark office to accept it.
• The SOS standard signal for distress was preceded by the standard “CQD” signal which meant literally: CQ: general call or “all stations”; D: Distress.
• • The Titanic’s radio officer Jack Phillips used the old standard “CQD”  to call for help.  He transmitted “CQD” six times followed by the Titanic’s call letters “MGY”.  He later interspersed “SOS” in with the “CQD” messages at the suggestion of junior radio officer Harold Bride. Interestingly Marconi, of the Marconi Company who had originally suggested “CQD” for a distress signal, was waiting in New York to return to England on the Titanic.
•  Source….www.today i foundout.com
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