A century of SOS

Posted on June 16^th 2008

The 1st of July sees the 100th anniversary of SOS becoming the international signal for ships in distress.

In that time it has been used on countless occasions to signal that a ship is in trouble and needing assistance, most notably the Titanic when she sank on 15th April 1912 after hitting an iceberg.

Although many acronyms have been linked to it, the SOS doesn’t stand for anything it is just the commonly used description for the international Morse code.

It has been said that modern technology has now far surpassed the old Morse code in transmitting a distress signal. The use of VHF, emergency beacons and mobile phones has been seen to overtake the SOS signal in the twenty first century.

So with 100 years of use behind it is it time for SOS to put up its feet and let the new technology take over in maritime communication?

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